Fighting Fat

With obesity and sugar consumption high on the media agenda in the UK, there have been some claims and counter-claims as to who is responsible and where the solution lies. We were concerned that none of the ideas we heard seemed to have any benefit to the bottom-line profits of food retailers – so we came up with a solution that did.

If a food retailer could bundle together the historically fragmented approaches of managing obesity – such as community health checks, promotion of physical activity, and food labelling initiatives – into one programme, then they will not only have a great customer proposition but they will also create a direct benefit to the wellbeing of people nationwide.

We estimate that this programme could help the overweight and obese population reduce its calorie intake by 50kcal per day, creating an annual average weight loss of 2.5kg per participant. Over three years, we calculate this would move 2.8 million people out of the obesity category (BMI>25kg/m2).