Johnson plan to 'reverse tide of obesity'

Health secretary Alan Johnson has set out plans to make Britain the first major country to "reverse the rising tide of obesity".

He announced a series of government initiatives on Wednesday, backed by £372m of funding.

These include a £75m "aggressive" campaign to promote healthy living to parents, and the creation of several "healthy towns" with more cycle routes and pedestrian areas at a cost of £30m.

Johnson also confirmed plans for a move towards a single food labelling system, with an independent panel of experts tasked with evaluating the three current systems.

At present some manufacturers and retailers using traffic light labels, some use guideline daily amounts of key nutrients, and some a mix of both.

Johnson said he wanted to make breast feeding the "default option" for mothers, alongside plans to improve diet and lifestyle for pregnant mothers.

The government's strategy also proposes giving councils power to limit the spread of fast food restaurants near schools and parks.

Johnson said the government was still committed to its target of cutting the proportion of overweight and obese youngsters to 2000 levels by 2020.

"The government has set itself a new ambition of being the first major country to reverse the rising tide of obesity in the population by ensuring that all individuals are able to maintain a healthy weight," he told MPs in the Commons.

He said that while cutting obesity was "primarily about individual behaviour and responsibility", the government had the "most significant role in expanding people's opportunities to make the right choice for themselves and their families".

The government report on obesity raised the idea of offering vouchers or money to people "to lose weight and sustain that weight loss, to eat more healthily, or to be consistently more physically active".

The strategy also includes plans launched earlier this week for all children to receive cookery lessons in schools, and calls on all schools to have healthy lunch box policies.

The document outlines plans for an early review of advertising regulations recently introduced to prevent junk food being marketed to children.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley accused the government of "dithering" over food labelling and failing to invest in public health.

"Today's announcement is typical of this government - it doesn't get to the root of the problem and provides a poor smokescreen for Labour's failure to make public health a real priority," he said.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "This plan amounts to a series of vague aspirations and gimmicks, with few concrete commitments."