Defra Family Food 2012 reveals progress against obesity

Good news has been thin on the ground when it comes to obesity. So it was not just the shrinking of the Mars bar or Tesco’s decision to look again at multibuys that came as a shock this week. Not one but two reports out this week suggested we might actually be heading in the right direction in tackling obesity.

On Wednesday figures from the health & Social Care Information Centre revealed the number of obese and overweight children in the final year of primary school in England had fallen for the first time in six years. However, centre chair Kingsley Manning admits the jury is out over whether the figures are “the start of a decline or more of a blip”, and still leave a third of year six pupils classified as obese or overweight.

But a much wider-ranging report, mapping all household food and drink consumption in the UK, also shows a continuing long-term trend in reduced calorie consumption that at the current rate would mean within five years the UK will hit the recommended average daily calorie intake figure.

Defra’s Family Food 2012 shows the figure down by an average of 85 calories a day to 2,209 kcal per person in 2012, which although 5% higher than the target is down 4.1% on 2009.

This finding comes on top of a report last month by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which showed Brits were consuming on average 600 fewer calories a day than in 1980, a huge 30% fall.

But don’t crack open the Diet Coke just yet. IFS also found families were consuming less nutritional food, and Defra’s report shows fresh veg sales are down 6% on average since 2009, and nearly twice that amount in the poorest 10% of homes where consumption of fresh fruit has fallen 20%.

It pinpoints inflation rather than healthy eating as a major factor in the fall in calories consumed, with 2012 food prices 12% higher than 2007. beef, lamb & fish are among those products being abandoned, with double-digit falls in consumption.

But some of the most potentially harmful products are proving more resilient to inflation in the most at-risk groups. The poorest 10% of households spent 43% more on alcohol in 2012 compared with 2007 and cut back by 8%, less than the national average fall.

Because data is collected per household, not per individual, no account is taken of waste. The report also lacks any mention of energy expenditure and Defra admits it “cannot on its own be used to predict reductions in obesity”.

But despite the inevitable accusations to come from NGOs and health lobbyists that the government is not doing enough, Dr Roberta Re, nutrition research manager at Leatherhead Food Research, is encouraged by collaborative efforts to date.

“The key thing is that so many different forces are all working towards the same aim and taking co-ownership of the problem.”