Targeting junk food to tackle obesity is ‘misleading’

It is misleading to focus public health campaigns on tackling obesity by targeting fried food and fizzy drinks, according to scientists.

As many seek to battle the festive bulge in January, a study has challenged previous findings that any single aspect of diet or lifestyle can be addressed to reduce the risk of obesity in adults.

Researchers at the University of Exeter in Britain found instead many fattening aspects of the environment, lifestyle and behaviour interact with a person’s genes to influence his or her waistline - and the strongest influence is poverty.