New action plan to halt rising obesity levels in Bristol
Public health experts believe systemic changes are needed in the wider Bristol region to help people reach and maintain a healthy weight.
Following quality and healthiness concerns regarding school dinners and meals served in hospitals in Bristol and surrounding areas, a new action plan will be implemented by local councils and NHS organisations that form the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care System.
Emily Moseley, Public Health Registrar, said: “One in five children are living with overweight or obesity when they start school, and this increases to one in three by the time they leave school. This has a big impact on the NHS, as obesity is linked to a range of non-communicable diseases.
“It’s possible that obesity could overtake tobacco and smoking as the biggest cause of preventable death. This impact isn’t felt equally across society, with lower income households facing multiple challenges in managing finances, making it harder to access nutritious food and opportunities to be physically active.”
She added: “Obesity is a societal rather than an individual responsibility. The solution to that is creating environments within communities that embed nutrition and regular physical activity, making the healthy choice the easy choice. Small changes on a system level can have a really big impact on the health of the population as a whole.”
Providing good quality, healthy school dinners can prove challenging as many school dinners are prepared by a large national company rather than the schools themselves. However, the action plan will explore innovative options to address this issue.
Ped Asgarian, Director, Feeding Bristol charity, said: “There are a lot of innovative ways happening around the country that we can look at to provide better food to schools. A lot of caterers are not hitting basic food school standards. There’s no accountability and no auditing for that on a national level at the moment, which is a huge issue.