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UK Government overhauls childhood obesity strategy

The UK Government has announced a new package of measures designed to reverse the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic following the release of statistics revealing the scale of the crisis.

On 4 November, the UK Government announced plans to tackle the country’s rising childhood obesity epidemic, after the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Education, and the National Health Service (NHS) collaborated on proposals to address the escalating levels of childhood obesity.

Except for the Covid-19 pandemic peak, the latest figures show the highest childhood obesity prevalence rates the country has seen in reception children since records first began in 2006-2007.

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) annual report shows that 10.5% of children in reception and 22.2% of year six children are living with obesity.

“These figures are extremely concerning – obesity can have a devastating impact on children’s health, increasing their risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer, mental health issues, and many other illnesses, which can sadly lead to shorter and unhappier lives,” said Professor Simon Kenny, NHS national clinical director for children and young people.

Childhood obesity rates require action, deprivation gap grows

On 30 October, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its latest European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI), covering 2022-2024.

Gathering data from about 470,000 children aged six to nine years across 37 countries, it found that overall, 11% of children aged seven to nine years are living with obesity, while 25% are living with being overweight, including obesity.

The report highlighted that considerable differences exist between countries, with obesity prevalence rates varying between 3% in Uzbekistan to 20% in Cyprus. In most countries analysed, more than one in 10 children was living with obesity. This figure rose to almost one in five in several southern European countries.

Taken from the academic year 2024 to 2025, results from over 1.1 million children measured across state-maintained schools in England show that children from black ethnic groups are more likely to be living with obesity than other ethnic groups.

Furthermore, more than double the number of children are living with obesity in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived, varying from 14% vs 6.9% in reception-aged children and 29.3% versus 13.5% in year six students. The UK Government has found that this deprivation gap has widened since the programme began.

“This government will not look away as kids get unhealthier and critics urge us to leave them behind,” said Wes Streeting, Health and Social Care Secretary for the UK Government.

“Obesity robs children of the best possible start in life, sets them up for a lifetime of health problems, and costs the NHS billions.”

UK re-envisions childhood obesity strategy

The UK Government’s new obesity strategy aims to implement preventive actions to reverse rising rates, with initiatives that focus on supporting children, parents, and caregivers with food choices at home, at school, and in the playground.

It will implement restrictions on junk food advertising, expand free school meals, and introduce universal free breakfast clubs to encourage healthier eating.

Through these measures, the UK Government aims to help the country act now, make healthy choices easy and support families in turning the tide on childhood obesity.

“This is prevention, not punishment, and will help families and children across the country,” said Streeting.

Clamping down on junk food

In one of the prevention measures, the UK Government said it was making improvements to the “out-of-date system” used to categorise the health credentials of foods.

Subsequently, all large businesses will need to report on the healthiness of their finished products. The Government will also develop targets designed to enhance children’s health, prompting further changes to food packaging and claims.

Foods including yoghurts, fruit juices, and cereals will be labelled as junk food under the proposed obesity strategy.

And junk food and drink advertisements will be restricted in an effort to shield children from exposure to less healthy food and drinks. Adverts of this description will be pulled from television before 9pm and online. The Government anticipates that this will take away up to 7.2 billion calories per year from children’s diets.

Restrictions will also apply to “buy more to save” promotions. Popular sales strategies, such as “buy one get one free” and “three for two”, on less healthy foods will be subject to new rules.

By implementing this policy, the UK Government anticipates delivering health benefits worth £2 billion and achieving £180 million in NHS savings over a 25-year period.

Reducing exposure to high-caffeine energy drinks

The UK Government is also consulting on plans to ban food and drink retailers from selling high-caffeine energy drinks to individuals under 16.

Currently, around 100,000 children drink at least one high-caffeine energy drink a day. If introduced, the government said the ban could avoid obesity in up to 40,000 children and provide long-term health advantages.

“High-caffeine energy drinks have no place in children’s hands,” said Katharine Jenner, director at Obesity Health Alliance. “This is a common-sense, evidence-based step to protect children’s physical, mental and dental health.”

The Government’s consultation on high-caffeine energy drinks closes on 26 November. It explores the types of products and businesses that would fall within the proposed ban's scope, including how the ban would apply to products sold in vending machines. It also considers the timeframe for businesses and enforcement authorities to implement the ban and how it would be enforced.

Cutting sugar from baby food formulations

In August, the UK Government released new guidelines requiring baby food manufacturers to lower their sugar and salt levels, and improve labelling.

The update, which is in response to misleading marketing practices, aims to make it easier for parents to choose healthier options. Baby food manufacturers were given 18 months to reformulate their finished products for children up to 36 months old.

Concerns over sugar levels found in snack foods also informed this reformulation decision. The Government said that data has revealed that this high sugar content contributes to childhood obesity rates, with UK levels among the highest in western Europe.