One simple change in diet could save NHS £5 billion a year - Labour unveils plan to tackle obesity

If overweight Brits drank one less fizzy drink a day, it could reduce the obesity epidemic by enough to save the NHS £5 billion a year.

That's the message from Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Environment Secretary Steve Reed as they outline plans to make Britain healthier, boost British farming and slash hospital waiting times.

Food retailers and manufacturers will "make the healthy choice the easy choice" in partnership with the government.

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As part of the government's 10-year plan for the NHS, supermarkets will aim to make the average shopping basket of goods slightly healthier.

This could be through tweaking recipes, changing shop layouts or offering discount and loyalty scheme incentives to promote healthier options.

"It's become too easy to get hold of ultra-processed foods high in sugar, salt and fat and too difficult to find healthier alternatives," the two ministers wrote in a joint article for this newspaper.

Read the joint article in full below

They added this was "increasing rates of diabetes, heart disease and cancer and costing the NHS £11.4 billion a year."

The government estimates obesity would be halved if everyone who is overweight reduced their diets by 216 calories a day - the equivalent of a bottle of fizzy drink.

They wrote: "That would save the NHS around £5 billion a year, which could be reinvested in cutting waiting lists, making sure the NHS is there for us when we need it once again."

Obesity rates have doubled since the 1990s, including among children.

A forthcoming report by the Chief Medical Officer will reveal more than 1 in 5 children are living with obesity by the time they leave primary school.

That figure rises to almost 1 in 3 in areas with higher levels of poverty and deprivation.

Central to the 10-year NHS plan will be a shift in focus from treatment to prevention, creating what ministers describe as a "more active state".

Alongside the push for healthier supermarket shops, access to weight-loss injections is likely to be increased to reduce obesity.

Meanwhile, patients will decide how much cash hospitals get from the government by rating their treatment as part of the 10-year plan.

And for the first time, pay for doctors and nurses will be linked to their success in bringing down waiting lists.

Mr Reed said a joined-up strategy was needed to tackle obesity while backing Britain's farmers and food producers.

"Britain has some of the best farmers, growers, food manufacturers and retailers in the world, which means we have more choice than ever before on our shelves," he said.

"It is vital for the nation that the food industry delivers healthy food, that is available, affordable and appealing.

"Our food strategy will bring together the health plan, food producers and retailers to make sure we can feed the nation more healthily while growing the economic success of our food sector."

Mr Streeting added: "Our brilliant supermarkets already do so much work for our communities and are trying to make their stores heathier, and we want to work with them and other businesses to create a level playing field.

"Through our new healthy food standard, we will make the healthy choice the easy choice, because prevention is better than cure."

Supermarket giants Tesco and Sainsbury's - as well as a raft of health charities - welcomed the move.

Tesco CEO Ken Murphy said: "All food businesses have a critical part to play in providing good quality, affordable and healthy food.

"At Tesco, we have measured and published our own healthier food sales for a number of years now - we believe it is key to more evidence-led policy and better-targeted health interventions."

And Simon Roberts, CEO of Sainsbury's added: "We're passionate about making good food joyful, accessible and affordable for everyone and have been championing the need for mandatory health reporting, across the food industry for many years.

"Today's announcement from Government is an important and positive step forward in helping the nation to eat well. We need a level playing field across the entirety of our food sector for these actions to have a real and lasting impact.

"We look forward to working across Government and our wider industry on the further development of these policies and in helping to drive improved health outcomes across our nation."

John Maingay, Director of Policy at the British Heart Foundation said: "A new standard to make meals across the UK healthier is a huge step towards creating a food environment that supports better heart health. This move recognises the vital role that businesses can play in supporting everyone to have a healthier diet.

Katharine Jenner, Director, Obesity Health Alliance said: “This is a fair and evidence-based prescription for better health; big businesses urgently need the government to level the playing field to help them focus on selling products that help people live well.

“The government has rightly identified the root cause of obesity-related ill health: a food system that makes healthy eating difficult. Crucially, it puts the spotlight on the food industry and commits to holding it accountable for providing healthier options - rather than placing the burden on individuals who are already struggling to get by.”

Our plan for a healthier nation

By STEVE REED, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and WES STREETING, Secretary of State for Department for Health and Social Care

Our nation is facing an obesity epidemic.

The UK now has the third highest rate of obesity in Europe, with almost two thirds of adults in England overweight.

And shocking figures show more than 1 in 5 children will be obese by the time they leave primary school, a figure that rises to 1 in 3 in the poorest areas.

This is no accident. The health and wealth of our nation is dependent on the food available to shoppers and the food we produce on our farms.

It’s become too easy to get hold of ultra-processed foods high in sugar, salt and fat and too difficult to find healthier alternatives, increasing rates of diabetes, heart disease and cancer and costing the NHS £11.4 billion a year.

And we have lacked a coherent strategy to get more of our British farmers’ world-leading produce into our shops.

That’s why this Government is tackling these problems now and for the future.

We are launching a 10 Year Health Plan alongside the Food Strategy, and central to that will be a world-first partnership with the food industry to help people make healthier choices about what they eat.

Food businesses will be required to report on how much healthy food they are selling, and using this information we’ll work with the industry to set realistic targets to improve people’s diets and health.

This new approach to healthy food will help families make smarter choices, without putting unnecessary burdens on businesses.

Businesses will have the freedom to meet the new standard however works for them. That could mean changing ingredients to make products more nutritious, altering shop layouts to encourage better choices, or changing loyalty schemes to promote healthier options.

But to support this, we need our food industry to offer products that are affordable and appealing. Food that is good for our health produced in ways that don’t harm the planet.

At the same time, we are backing British farmers by committing to increase investment in food production, leading to more profitable farms and cutting-edge food manufacturing.

We’re setting ambitious goals– but the rewards for success are huge.

Our ambition is for this generation of children to be the healthiest ever. If we can cut the average daily diet by just 50 calories – a portion of popcorn – we could stop 340,000 children and 2 million adults from being obese. Reduce diets by 216 calories – a single bottle of fizzy drink – and we could halve obesity. That would save the NHS around £5 billion a year, which could be reinvested in cutting waiting lists, making sure the NHS is there for us when we need it once again. By bringing Britain back to health, we’ll get our NHS fighting fit.

Greater prosperity in our farming businesses means more jobs, food that is better for our health, and exports to get the best of British food on plates around the world.

We know our food system needs a clear vision to get healthier food on our plates and more investment in our farming and food businesses.

This is why our strategies for health and food go hand-in-hand.

As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, we are building the foundations to make our country healthier and wealthier once again.