Jamie supports sugary drink thinking

Jamie has responded to today’s call for sugary drinks to be more highly taxed in a bid to help prevent obesity in the UK.

Doctors from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges want the price of sugary, fizzy drinks to increase by a fifth after they said that obesity “was the greatest public health crisis facing the UK.”

They also want a ban on unhealthy food in hospitals according to their report published in The Guardian. The academy also said the Government had been slow to respond to the fact that one-in-four adults in the UK is obese. The estimated income for the tax would help fund weight management programmes.

Jamie said: “This is the clearest warning sign yet that the medical profession is deeply concerned about obesity. We need action now to educate children and families on how to choose the right food to give them the best life chances.”

He added that the Royal College echoed his concerns and those expressed by many others and makes clear recommendations. “These could help prevent our children and future generations being condemned to a poorer quality of life, blighted by health problems as a result of obesity,” he continued.

Jamie concluded: “Many of us have long campaigned for food education to be integral to the curriculum and the recent announcement that it will become part of the curriculum in September 2014 is definitely progress. However, the job is not complete until it is firmly embedded for children of all ages and we begin to see a decline in childhood obesity.”

The report also called for councils to limit the number of fast food outlets around schools.