Paul Belcher FRCP MFPH 🇪🇺🇬🇧🇪🇸’s Post

📚 New report: Unhealthy food is costing UK over £250 billion Analysis from Prof Tim Jackson for FFCC reveals the costs of Britain’s unhealthy food system amount to £268 billion every year – almost equivalent to the total annual UK healthcare spend.  It shows the current food system is costing 4 x more in health-related costs than it would cost to fix it – and that the way we eat, grow and produce food is imposing a staggering financial burden on the British economy. The report draws on, amongst other evidence, the latest findings from #TheFoodConversation, which shows the extent of the public’s appetite for government intervention on food. It comes ahead of the Citizens Food Summit, which brings together citizens with leaders in food, farming, business, health and politics to call for urgent reform to food in the UK. Read The Guardian exclusive: https://lnkd.in/ewbaAN54 Read Tim’s report: https://lnkd.in/eMTKUEqS

Food, Farming and Countryside Commission has just released a report revealing: 💷Unhealthy food costs the UK over £250 billion 🍽 The cost of a healthy and nutritious diet for every citizen vs cost of current diets 🤒 An unhealthy alliance between Big Food and Big Pharma They propose a policy framework to address these issues: 🍲 Root the right to healthy food in policy ⚖ Regulate the food environment to prevent harm 💸 Redirect money to preventative healthcare and sustainable, nutritious food production Read the report: https://lnkd.in/eMTKUEqS Read coverage in the Guardian: https://lnkd.in/ewbaAN54

This is a pretty bleak stat but important, as with all wicked/complex challenges to lean into, acknowledge and make transparent. We can then move onto solutions led in partnership by governments and businesses across the UK. 'The False Economy of Big Food and the case for a new food economy' researched and written by Prof Tim Jackson is a huge milestone for the team at Food, Farming and Countryside Commission and the result of a laser focus on #foodsystems and working in partnership and listening to people and ideas from different perspectives to find practical and radical solutions. It proposes three principles to change the direction of travel for our food economy: ➡️ Root the right to good food in law and provide serious leadership across governments ➡️ Regulate Big Food effectively, to halt the rise of chronic illnesses ➡️ Redirect resources to a new food economy, based on good healthy food, sustainably produced, easily available for everyone everywhere. https://lnkd.in/eXCtBUjf When those of us talk about the implementation of the ambition and legislation of the #GoodFoodNation in #Scotland - this is the scale of leadership and direction required.

So there we have it... “big food is making us sick” And the cost to society is spiralling – hundreds of billions. Oooof. We all knew it was bad. But not that bad. “… a food system that privatises the profits and socialises the harms from bad food. It puts a price on the failure of the government stretching back over 30 years to regulate big food.” The link between healthy land, healthy food and a healthy population seems pretty clear to most of us. Right now that chain is broken, and it’ll take some bold leadership and proper joined-up thinking to fix it. The big players need to stop abdicating their responsibilities and admit they’re the problem. Us underdogs need to keep snapping at their heels and helping to drive change. Full article here... https://lnkd.in/eTmagPd4

Heart-breaking headlines from the The Food Foundation but does it surprise me? Of course it doesn't. I've written before (link below) about how leaving it to the supermarkets to decide our dietary habits enables them to push non-perishables that can be stacked high and sold cheap. As Leon Ballin has said, ‘Leave it to Tesco’ doesn't work. It exacerbates #inequalities and priorities profits over people. But when it comes to solutions, I'd recommend everyone interested in #publicpolicy and #nutrition and #obesity take a look at an amazing piece of work by Henry Dimbleby and Dr Dolly van Tulleken. They interviewed 3 former prime ministers, 1 deputy prime minister, 10 former health secretaries, and 6 former other politicians involved in food policy. Obstacles (horrible paraphrasing on my part): - The nanny state - Business lobbying - Other competing priorities for government - Complexity of the problem Solutions: - Compelling arguments utilising well-founded existing evidence. Don't reinvent the wheel - Build a movement - Enlist the Prime Minister. Keir Starmer 👋 - Be bold, act fast, no regrets. It's a brilliant piece. Please take the time to read it. Link in the comments below. Megan Blake Lucy Tordo-Gillingham (Jackman) Colletta Smith Abi Smitton Impact on Urban Health Nikita Sinclair Peter Babudu Claud Williams FRSA Nesta Ella White Elspeth Kirkman

🧐 Interesting read about how some companies are disclosing data and/or setting targets around the sales of healthy foods in PA Future. Matt Crossman from Rathbones Group Plc points out companies producing unhealthy food don't have to pay for related healthcare costs. According to our State of the Nation’s Food Industry progress towards changing our food system for the better is mixed. And given the mixed progress, what role are investors playing in this trend? That’s been a key question that the Investor Coalition on Food Policy, which now comprises over 30 investors with over £6 trillion in assets under management or advice, supported by The Food Foundation and our Plating up Progress work, has been looking to address. The collaboration between the Investor Coalition on Food Policy and NGOs like The Food Foundation and ShareAction highlights that challenges in the industry are best addressed by government policy to avoid a gap between proactive leaders and laggards, ensuring transformational change in our food environment. With a new government in place, there's hope for meaningful improvements in the UK market, at least around disclosure. The scale of investor involvement also gives a sense of momentum towards correcting for this market externality. Read our SOFI report: https://lnkd.in/dfgfp-FK Find out more about Plating Up Progress: https://lnkd.in/esX-benK   Sophie Lawrence Greenbank Investments Matt Lomas Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) BNP Paribas Asset Management Anthony Y. The First Thirty Thomas Abrams

The true cost of a national diet increasingly reliant on unhealthy food is truly staggering. Using a range of data, Tim Jackson’s report reveals for the first time - using conservative estimates - that the real cost to us all, of diet related illness is £268bn. That’s taking into account the direct costs to the NHS, social care, lost productivity, and the human costs to our wellbeing. It’s the result of a long standing failure to take food systems policy seriously. And while government pays the spiralling costs, Big Food’s profits from unhealthy food have rocketed. But their biggest win has been convincing governments that they can entrust food policy to them. Those businesses have shaped the rules - and they reap all the rewards. We will never be a flourishing and prosperous economy until governments start to build a new food economy. And the cost of putting it right is £57bn. This isn’t about asking families to spend more money to eat well. It is about showing government what it is already having to spend, in a losing battle to tackle the impacts of too much junk food. And it puts a number on what it could choose to invest instead in good food and good health. The report sets out three principles for a new food economy. First, root the right to good food in law and provide serious leadership across governments. Second, regulate Big Food effectively, to halt the rise of chronic illnesses Third, redirect resources to a new food economy, based on good healthy food, sustainably produced, easily available for everyone everywhere. Dr Dolly van Tulleken Mhairi Brown, RNutr David Edwards Charlie Taverner Anna Taylor Adele Jones Dan Crossley Tom MacMillan Helen Browning Shirley Cramer Denise Bentley FRSA https://lnkd.in/eFvbmaEF

Just how many more times does this issue have to be proven before ANY government takes it seriously? The right food = improved health. The right food = improved planetary health. Heavens, dare I say it but the right food and farming would RESTORE human and planetary health. It’s devastating that there’s so much money involved in feeding people rubbish and selling systems with such horribly high inputs that the cost of change is seen as “too high” by those with the power to really implement change at a high level. Well done Food, Farming and Countryside Commission for putting together yet another BRILLIANT report and getting the info out there to the wider world. I can’t get to the march in London, but we’re having a meeting/farm walk here in Norfolk to show our support of: Fair Prices for Farmers Fairness in the supply chain Access to nutrient dense food, grown as locally as possible High farming standards (arguably the best in the world) Environmentally Friendly Farming Protecting farmland from unsuitable “renewable” energy Clear Labelling of food showing methods of production Family Farms not Mega Farms It’s not too late to join us at Old Hall Farm if you wish! Definitely #wearyourwellies and a jolly good coat and scarf too! #EatToSaveThePlanet #FamilyFarmsMatter #AgroecologicalFarming #CowWithCalfDairy #KinderFarming #DitchTheUltraProcessedFoods

NEW Polling from Recipe for Change! ➡️ 35 leading food, health, and children's advocacy groups, as well as experts and royal medical colleges have called on the government to go ‘further & faster’ to create a healthier food industry, as new polling reveals low public trust in companies. ➡️ The new polling shows 74% of British adults believe that companies are NOT HONEST about the health impacts of their food. ➡️ With products overloaded in sugar & salt, only 13% of the public believe food companies will reduce unhealthy ingredients in their food without government stepping in. ➡️ Voluntarily initiatives for food companies to change their recipes haven’t been effective enough - they’ve reduced sugar by 3.5%, compared to 34% for the mandatory sugary drinks levy. ➡️ 68% of people polled support extending this to other food and drinks products beyond soft drinks, if any money raised supported children’s food and health initiatives. ➡️ Our joint letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves & Health Secretary Wes Streeting, calls on Government to be much more ambitious in building a healthier food industry. ➡️ Industry regulation to make our food healthier, including an expanded sugar & salt tax on companies, is recommended by the recent Lords Committee report on Food, Diet and Obesity, the National Food Strategy, supported by the public & many companies. It’s time for Government to act now! #RecipeForChange #publichealth #childhealth #healthyfood #foodindustry #reformulation #foodpolicy #obesity #healthmission #salt #sugar #reformulation #foodindustry Read the full story and the letter here or join the campaign by visiting https://buff.ly/49uRxM5 The Food Foundation , Obesity Health Alliance Impact on Urban Health , British Heart Foundation , Action on Salt | Action on Sugar | World Action on Salt, Sugar and Health ,

Unhealthy food habits are costing the UK around £268bn every year, according to a report. The Food Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) report calculated both the direct and indirect impact of diet-related ill health to come up with the annual total. Experts say they did this by combining the cost of healthcare and social care, welfare spending, productivity losses and the human consequences of chronic disease, and identifying what proportion relates to food. The figure is made up of £116.4bn of lost economic productivity, £67.5bn in healthcare, £14.3bn in social care, £10.1bn in welfare and £60bn that can be linked to the chronic disease attributable to the current food ecosystem. Professor Tim Jackson, the director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at Surrey University, who carried out the analysis, said: "The connection between diet and health is often discussed, but the economics of that link are staggering. "When we factor in the health impacts, we discover that the true cost of an unhealthy diet is more than three times what we think we're paying for our food. "Some of these hidden costs, like lost economic productivity, can be hard to see." An insightful article and one that will surely test the purpose of economics, and the purpose of Government. https://lnkd.in/eGdPhHVW #sustainableprosperity #purposedrivengovernment #gdp #purposefulgovernment #purposefuleconomics #wellbeingeconomics #regenerativeeconomics #doughnuteconomics