Former Food Tsar says tackling obesity as crucial as small boats and inflation

Former Food Tsar Henry Dimbleby fears Britain’s obesity crisis is now so bad much of the population could end up poping pills. His warning comes amid ongoing failure to tackle the epidemic.

Buy-one-get-one-free bans on unhealthy foods have been shelved, while plans to outlaw TV advertising of junk products before 2100 has been shunted back until October 2025.

Mr Dimbleby, 52, said: “We needed the TV advertising ban yesterday – it can’t wait until the next general election. To me this should be as much a priority to politicians as the things they keep talking about, like stopping small boats and tackling inflation.

“If we are not going to end up drugging the population we have to get cracking before the next election. Do I think it will happen? No. I think we will end up drugging [much of] the population.”

His grim warning comes as successive strategies to rein in manufacturers of ultra-processed food have been shelved as health chiefs turn to drugs as an easier way of fighting flab.

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The Department of Health and Social Care has invested £20 million of taxpayers’ cash to test new “obesity treatments and technologies”. Weight loss drug Semaglutide has recently been approved by drug rationing body NICE.

Mr Dimbleby and an expert panel of advisors were at the heart of trying to drive systemic change but Ministers ignored all of their recommendations, except slapping calorie counts on restaurant menus. It has left Britain heading along a path to oblivion.

He said: “The Government has got it fundamentally wrong. It thinks it is something too politically difficult but focus groups say differently.

“Both Labour and the Tories think this is not popular in the Red Wall, that it is part of some sort of culture war and by taking on advertising and junk food purveyors they will lose votes – they won’t

“As soon as I had written the food strategy I needed to shout about it. I felt like we had gone backwards on health. Boris Johnson wanted to act, but it was kicked into the long grass.

“The final straw for me was when [former Health Secretary] Sajid Javid was about to publish his health disparities white paper, but Johnson resigned and that fell apart. I had done enough trying to stop the bus heading over the cliff – I had to jump off the bus.

“I served under five secretaries of state and four prime ministers. Issues like this require a strong, focused centre. We have had chaos at Number 10 so I am not surprised this hasn’t moved forward.”

Most alarming of all, critics say, is the failure to stop junk food advertising to children.

The ubiquitous availability has seen convenience become the norm. Few schools teach basic lifelong skills like sourcing products and cooking fresh food from scratch, while the rise of app-based fast food deliveries has seen a huge chunk of the nation become idle and reliant on others.

Our busy lives have seen supermarkets peddle cheap and industrially-manufactured treats to cater for those on the go, juggling work with family commitments, while millions are bombarded daily with marketing offers for sugar-laden products. Mr Dimbleby says three immediate actions would help stem the tide, but holds almost no hope of any happening.

He said: “Policy can’t be created unless we recognise the problem. This is not all about willpower, it’s about changing the commercial incentives of companies making 85 per cent of processed food which is too unhealthy to market to children.

“The second is to implement advertising restrictions. And the third is to look at the cost of living for those in poverty and expand free school meals and healthy start initiatives [which provide free and cut-priced fresh fruit and vegetables]. All three would have a huge effect.

“But here’s what I think will happen. It is more likely than not that no one summons the courage to deal with this problem of terrible food, so I think it is likely one third of the population could end up on appetite suppressant drugs. That buys us time, but drugs are never quite what they seem. They will have all sorts of side effects and people will get frightened.

“I think that if you have a body mass over 35 and have struggled with obesity and diet-related disease you should talk to your GP about semaglutide – it could help you. But we shouldn’t be using it as the solution.”

Horrifying statistics lay bare how Britain has fought – and lost – a battle with the bulge. In 1950 just 1 percent of the population was obese. Today the figure is 28 percent.

Father-of-three Mr Dimbleby recoiled in horror when a friend told him their take on the looming crisis. They said: “It’s a depressing world and a massive number end up on antidepressants. What’s the difference here?”.

He said: “I became vaguely aware of diabetes when I wrote the school food plan in 2013 and talked to doctors.

“Things really shocked me while working on the National Food Strategy and I talked to people who were diabetics. It is a serious disease. One sufferer said to me they would die if they were not on medication. They had gone from living to someone kept alive by drugs.

“This is unseen by a lot of people but completely pervasive. The thinking is if you’ve got it, you’re lazy and possess no willpower.

“It’s a disease that lives in the shadows. It’s not guiltless like cancer.

“Andy Haldane, the former chief economist at the Bank of England, said the single thing holding us back from GDP growth was more sick people, and a huge part of that is diet-related disease.

“The NHS sucks money from all other government departments because no one can be seen to let it sink.

“What we will have is stagnant tax receipts and a stagnant economy as we become an increasingly sick and impoverished nation. And the government – whatever colour that may be – is going to be dealing with this. It’s frightening.”

Ravenous: How to Get Ourselves and Our Planet into Shape by Henry Dimbleby with Jemima Lewis is published by Profile books.