Whose Fault Is It.....

Stories on the growing obesity problem in the UK are not new, in fact people are almost bored of them. We have been told that the UK will soon overtake America in becoming the world's fattest nation and that the big fast food companies are the the ones to blame.

More recently, victims of sanction are UK supermarkets that are in the firing line for constantly advertising and promoting fatty foods high in salt, instead of healthy natural food. TV stations are also being told that they are irresponsible for letting adverts for fatty foods run during childrens viewing times and celebrities get their own share of abuse for letting themselves be linked with unhealthy high fat foods.

The latest group however to come under fire from health watchdogs are the manufacturers of the unhealthy products. A London University survey suggests that the manufacturers have no interest in producing or encouraging us to eat healthy foods. They argue that the manufacturers have a great deal of responsibility for the unhealthy state of the UK's adults and children.

The FDF (Food and Drink Federation) of the UK has denid these charges vehemently saying that the industry is concious of its responsibility in feeding the nation healthily and also realises that it must teach and help customers to make healthy food decisions. A senior official from the FDF said that the food industry always provides full nutritional information on all food packaging and said that of the £33billion of food stuffs supplied to supermarkets and retailers in 2006, £7.4billion of it was low salt and low fat produce. The FDF also said that the food industry always followed government guidelines and recommedations when requested.

The BDA (British Dietetic Association) was also aware of the importance that food manufacturers have in determining our diet and weight, but said that the majority of these companies did take their responsibilities seriously and were not the real culprits as the nutritional facts were always available for people to make healthy choices. However the way forward was to not just provide information but to make it easier and more obvious for consumers to choose healthy foods.

For example healthy foods must be made as attractive and promoted equally if not more than unhealthy foods, and that childrens foods that were not healthy should not be packaged attractively as they were often unable to make informed and responsible food choices.

The BNF British Nutrition Foundation said that while the manufacturers could help in feeding the nation well, people must also remember that they ultimately decided themselves on what went into their mouths and could not always blame others for their bad food choices. The culture of blaming others for being overweight and unhealthy was counter productive and educating people to eat healthily was the way forward.