2016 

July

UK consultation on advertising food and beverages to children on digital media.

The UK's Committee on Advertising Practice is consulting on marketing in digital media. Together, World Obesity and the UK's Association for the Study of Obesity (UKASO) have prepared a joint response demanding that broadcast media stop marketing unhealthy foods/beverages to children. This action is in light of the WHO's report on Ending Childhood Obesity and the UK's Childhood Obesity Strategy.

For more background information see here, and our response is available here.

Obesity, Nutrition and the Law

World Obesity's Tim Lobstein presented the call for a Global Convention to Protect and Promote Healthy Diets at an international meeting on legal approaches to health and nutrition, organised by Liverpool University in early July.

Issues on marketing to children: alcohol and junk food

World Obesity shared a platform with speakers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the UK Instititute of Alcohol Studies, at a meeting held at the UK House of Commons, on July 13th, attended by Members of Parliament and representatives of industry and health and consumer groups.

 

June

WHO Europe have released a new report, 'Good maternal nutrition. The best start in life', analysing maternal nutrition and infant feeding; with a focus on the prevalence of maternal obesity.

The foreword is by World Obesity's Dr. Tim Lobstein and Professor Philip James, and the European report itself reviews the 'existing recommendations for nutrition, physical activity, and weight gain during pregnancy' looking at the next course of action to tackle these issues.

Follow the link to see the report. 

 

May

World Obesity at the 69th World Health Assembly (23rd - 28th May)

This week the World Obesity Federation is represented at the 69th World Health Assembly in Geneva. We will be delivering a number of statements on a range of issues in collaboration with other NGOs. These include:

  1. The inappropriate marketing of infant foods - we are urging Member States to endorse the guidance that has been developed by WHO on this issue and to develop a comprehensive framework for monitoring the implementation of the actions. See here.
  2. Report of the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO) - we are calling for Member States to endorse the report, to implement the recommendations in a comprehensive way and to develop a monitoring framework. See here.
  3. Decade of Action on Nutrition - we welcome the UN's declaration of a Decade for Action on Nutrition and urge Member States to seize this opportunity to make real progress and impact on ending malnutrition in all its forms. See here.
  4. Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors (FENSA) - we raise concern that the current proposals do not have sufficient safeguards in place to protect the WHO from undue influence from the private sector. See here.

We are also co-sponsored a side event on 'ending child obesity and child undernutrition' alongside 12 NGOs and 13 member states. Key speakers include WHO DG Margaret Chan, Jamie Oliver and Health Ministers from every continent. We are calling for increased national investment in nutrition around the world. See relevant contributions by Jamie on Facebook here and with Corinna Hawkes here.

VCC awarded Bronze Healthy Venue Award

At the closing ceremony of ICO 2016, The Vancouver Convention Centre (VCC) was awarded Bronze as part of  the World Obesity Federation’s Healthy Venue Award scheme. VCC is only the second venue globally and the first in North America to be accredited.

Click here to read the full press release.

 

February

PRESS RELEASE: Researchers publish findings of a €3.7m spotlight on obesity

A cross-European team of researchers have reported the results of the four-year, €3.7m SPOTLIGHT study into measures to prevent adult obesity and the role of the environment. They find that urban planners have a responsibility to ensure that the neighbourhoods they design will promote healthy behaviour, and better still if the environment can encourage social networking and community support.

Read the full press release here.

New briefing paper published as part of EU-funded SPOTLIGHT project. 

PRESS RELEASE: How local neighbourhoods can raise your obesity risk:

Where you live and how you view your neighbourhood is strongly related to your health behaviour and your risk of developing obesity, according to research published this week. 

Read a special Obesity Reviews SPOTLIGHT Supplement here.

SECC becomes world’s first official Healthy Venue

The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow, Scotland, has become the first venue in the world to be accredited under the World Obesity Federation’s Healthy Venue Awards programme, achieving silver status under its challenging criteria.

Click here to read the full press release.

January

World Obesity welcomes new report on Ending Childhood Obesity. See here for our statement.

World Obesity co-signs statements to the 138th Executive Board meeting of the WHO (January)

Statements include:

  • Welcoming the new guidance on Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition (Agenda Item 6.1), in particular supporting the focus on children under 3 years of age. The statement urged Member States to review the Codex standards on complementary foods in line with new WHO guideline on sugar intake. This was co-signed by WCRF International, Consumers International, UK Health Forum and NCD Alliance. See here.
  • Raising concern about the slow progress that has been made towards meeting the 2025 NCD targets (Agenda Item 6.3) and calling for concerted global action on food policy in the form of a legally binding mechanism, free from commercial influence. This was a joint statement from World Obesity and Consumers International. See here.
  • Supporting the timeline for updating Appendix 3 of the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs (Agenda Item 6.3) and calling for a detailed assessment of implementation plans, for sufficient consideration to be given to intermediatory outcomes, particularly for risk factors, and finally for inclusion of civil society in the review process. This was a joint statement from UICC, NCD Alliance and WCRF International. See here.
  • Joining 41 civil society organisations in signing an open letter to 138th Executive Board meeting of WHO to raise concerns about the proposed non-state engagement and the threat this poses for WHO's independence and integrity. See here.

Lancet publishes paper on sugar reduction and World Obesity contributes Commentary

The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology has published a new study 'Gradual reduction of sugar in soft drinks without substitution as a strategy to reduce overweight, obesity, and type 2 diabetes: a modelling study' and World Obesity's Director of Policy, Tim Lobstein, was invited to contribute a 'commentary' discussing new findings that a 40% reduction in the sugar content of soft drinks in Britain, phased in over 5 years, could save over a million people in the country from becoming overweight, and a third of a million people spared from type 2 diabetes.

Gradual reductions in sugar content are an effective population intervention, he said, without necessarily reducing the commercial market for beverages. It works 'through a relatively painless shove to industry rather than a nudge to consumers,' he added.  

You can read the Lancet article here and the commentary here.