Obesity in the UK Essay

obesity levels in the Untied Kingdom have reached an all time high with oneness in either four adults suffering from obesity. Childhood obesity has also drastically increased with 25 percent of boys and 33 percent of girls aged between two and 19 years creation over clog or obese. in that respect is little sign of this upward trend in obesity stopping, and it will have a implication(a) impact on the state of the countrified. It will negatively affect the UKs economy and more significantly negatively affect the health of the UKs 63 jillion the great unwashed.With obesity becoming this prevalent in our society is it not time we address this issue? I think it is, and one of the best ways in my opinion is to introduce a tax on fizzy drinks and fast nourishment. This may sounds earlier drastic when first heard unless consider the 5.1billion spent every year by the NHS to brood those with obesity related medical conditions. Now consider the 2535 branches of Burger King, McDona lds, KFC and Pizza Hut located all or so Scotland and England, consider the number of products those branches sell and the amount of money that could be raised through taxes upon those products.That money could be spent on our NHS which is being crippled under the weight of budget cuts and the cost obesity is having for authentic isnt stand bying the load. These taxes could also deter many from the promise of quick, cheap food from these divulgelets and could send them in the direction of healthier options. The recommendations in favour of taxing these food ar quite reasonable, such as recommendation of taxes of twenty percent on sugary drinks for at least a year being put forth.Other initiatives be already in place to sustain cheat the UKs weight problem such as the Change 4 Life initiative run by the NHS which offers foreswear nutritional advice to those who want it. The problem is though, that as much good as these schemes are doing they arent run for well enough. The obesity levels in this country are still rising and we require more proceeding to stop it.We need to have more healthy eat schemes in place somewhat the country in places such as schools, at the work place and even at hospitals. People need to understand the risks of junk food and the major health effects it can have causing obesity, and with obesity comes a vast array of other negativehealth effects which include heart disease, certain cancers, high blood pressure, joint problems, psychological difficulties and diabetes.There have been other recommendations on ways to tackle obesity with ideas like banning the advertising of foods high in saturated fat, sugar and salt sooner 9pm, this can help with the problems of childhood obesity as children would be less likely to have seen these advertisements meaning they were less likely to be influenced by them.Another change that could drastically tip the scales towards healthier eating is giving local councils the power to limit the number of fast food outlets near schools and leisure centres limiting the availability of these types of food to young children. There are also plans for the government to spend 300 million on weight management programmes, that may sound like a large amount but it is far less than the cost obesity is having on the pockets of the NHS.Taxation on tobacco plant products has already been turn up to help reduce the number of smoking related deaths and the amount of money collected in taxes from tobacco products in 2012 (12.1bn) far outweighs the cost smoking related illnesses have on the NHS annually (5bn) so for certain the idea of taxing fatty and sugary foods is not too drastic. Especially when in that location are around 35,000 obesity related deaths each year.Other ways to tackle obesity have to do with activities instead than food. Along with the increase in junk food intake by people in the UK there has also been a large lack of exercise or sporting activity. Most people at present have jobs that involve sitting at a desk for long periods of the day, this combined with the fact that most people commute to work by car or bus rather than walking equals to a throne of sitting down during the day. After work most people just want to relax and so often sit down on the sofa with a cup of tea and watch video recording rather than do something active.This problem is hard to tackle but if initiatives at the work place are introduced which include things like sporting clubs offered free by the workplace or other incentives to walk to work rather than drive this can serious help with the daily inactivity. The workplace can also help by removing vending machines that give out junk food and replace them with onethat give out a healthy snack.Finally one more thing the government can do to help with this problem is to subsidise the cost of healthy foods in shops. This will be useful as one of the main reasons people eat unhealthy food is because it is often cheape r than most healthier products. If the healthier products are cheaper than other choices then people are more likely to eat healthily.Or instead of subsidising the food the government could give out food vouchers to those struggling for money to give them discounts on the healthier products in shops. This combined with taxation on the fattier foods can completely change the perception of healthy food in this country and we can begin on the road to eradicating the problem of obesity in the UK.By Rajan lamella 11E