Published 6 January 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1

News

English government launches initiative to cut obesity

Susan Mayor

1 London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A large advertising campaign to encourage families, and particularly children, to eat more healthily and be more active was launched last week by the English government as part of a three year programme that aims to achieve a "lifestyle revolution" to halt the growing epidemic of obesity.

The Change4Life programme will include education, individualised support, and activities to encourage people to understand the impact of obesity on their health and to make changes to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight. Its central message is that 90% of today’s children will be overweight or obese and at risk from serious diseases by 2050 without intervention.

Launching the initiative, Dawn Primarolo, the public health minister, said, "We are trying to create a lifestyle revolution on a huge scale—something that no government has attempted before."

She explained that the scale of obesity in the United Kingdom needs an ambitious and innovative approach. . . . [Full text of this article]


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