Government ‘powerless to tackle obesity crisis’

An expert has claimed that the government is “stuck” with the obesity crisis, amid the release of new statistics showing that the UK is one of the most obese countries in Europe, with up to one in five adults being obese.

Professor Karol Sikora, from cancer medicine at Hammersmith Hospital, has stated that healthy lifestyle campaigns have had little effect in some areas, while the West Midlands and Yorkshire were found to have the fattest women and men, respectively.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the professor said that poor people were suffering most markedly from obesity.

“In a sense they’ve been exploited by an industry that’s ruthless in marketing, both the tobacco industry and to a certain extent the food industry,” he said.

“I think the government’s done all it can, it’s very much a personal issue and that’s the message we have to get over.”

Professor Sikora concluded by saying that “pub culture” was the sort of societal behaviour that needed to change.

Caroline Flint, the public health minister, said in a GMTV interview that while the government might not be able to solve everything centrally, it could provide the tools to deal with obesity problems locally, according to the Independent.