Rich food, poor health.

A BBC report quotes the shadow health secretary Andy Burnham’s concern that current voluntary agreements with the food industry are not working and that the nationwide obesity problem is worsening. With obesity being a major cause of preventable disease there is general agreement that action is needed to tackle it, but whether regulation or collaboration is the route to take is subject to much debate. The Government’s key aim is to control levels of fat, sugar and salt in our food.

Possible actions under discussion are compulsory cookery lessons in schools, improved food labelling and legislation on manufactured foods. How would you tackle this growing problem?

Further thinking:

An article written by Kraft Foods’ CEO in this month’s issue of NGF, Next Generation Food, is thought provoking in its comments on the two contrasting global epidemics; obesity and hunger.

The sunshine vitamin

Sunlight is our main source of vitamin D but with short winter days in particular, we risk our 'daily dose' falling short of the recommended levels. Additionally, with only 10% of the recommended daily amount found naturally in food there may be justification in fortifying more foods with vitamin D; a view supported by Professor Mitch Blair, from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. The clearest indication of deficiency is the increase in hospital admissions due to rickets over the last 15 years. Currently the Government's Healthy Start programme offers vitamins free for people on income support but it seems that the uptake level is low. Perhaps low-cost supplements available to all would be the answer, added to a dose of public knowledge of the need?

Scotland's health inequalities - 50 years on

Audit Scotland's Report out this week acknowledges that over the past 50 years there have been some improvements in Scotland's health inequalities but there is still a very long way to go. It's not surprising that the worst health problems are linked with deprived areas. Deputy Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw says that people, regardless of their background, have to take responsibility for their own health, but also calls on ministers to do more. See the BBC news item for comments on the results of the report. 

Earlier HIV testing needed

Groups at high-risk of HIV are encouraged to test more regularly in order to reduce the worrying rise in the spread of infection. Fear and and lack of understanding surrounding both HIV and HIV testing in the UK continue to put the population at higher risk than necessary. Latest UK statistics sourced from the Health Protection Agency reveal that a quarter of people living with HIV in the UK are unaware of their condition.

                                                                                              

Alcohol - The Cost and the Price

Measures proposed to deal with alcohol-related crime and disorder in the UK are given in the Home Office press release of 29th November. Included in the proposal is 'Minimum Unit Pricing'.
Plans in Scotland for MUP have met with opposition from the European Commission as a "disproportionate" response to Scotland's health problems. Health Secretary Alex Neil will be Speaking in Brussels today to argue the case for the Scottish government remaining committed to introducing minimum alcohol pricing. Speaking before his visit today Mr Neil said: "The point that I will make in Brussels is that minimum pricing can and will save lives.

Poverty 2012

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's annual Poverty and Social Exclusion report is just out.  This offers an early analysis of the current government's policies on poverty and social exclusion as well as providing some evidence on the effects of recent welfare reform.  One area of concern the report higlights is underemployment: of the 64. million people lacking the paid work they want, 1.4 million are in part-time work.  Figures from ONS also underline this problem: they report a 47% increase in underemployment since the economic downturn in 2008.  A BBC report quotes Andrew Sissons of the Work Foundation, who notes that "of the half-a-million new jobs created in the UK in the past two years, about 70% have been part-time."

Direction of travel

What is the relationship between UK government policy on tackling health inequalities and the available research?  Not quite what we think, according to a paper published by the Socialist Health Association.  Its author reviews research and policy between 1997 and 2007, finding that, rather than being strictly evidence-based, policy in England and Scotland has rather been shaped around the transmission of research-based ideas. A similarly ambivalent approach to the use of the evidence base appears in an article published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.  Interviews with policy makers in six countries provides an insight into how they view barriers to and facilitators of the use of RCTs for social programmes.