No holds barred in war on junk food

The momentum to challenge the destructive role of poor, sugary foods in our diet and lives, especially in our children’s development, is at last gathering momentum. Even at this late hour, this is to be welcomed and encouraged to the point where policymakers are emboldened to become far more assertive, less timorous, than they are today. It is, after all, a matter of life or death, primarily the lives of the poorest, least educated in society.

This latest move comes from the HSE, which has decided to ban the sale of junk food via vending machines in hospitals. This initiative deserves a positive reaction, but must be tempered by the fact that, for more than a decade, health authorities have known of the direct correlation between junk food and soaring obesity rates. It would not have required spectacular foresight or courage to have made this decision 10 years ago. It might even have contributed to reducing the escalation of shocking obesity rates.

This has become an undeniable crisis of our time as obesity rates, and the prevalence of overweight people, have increased with alarming speed over the past 20 years. It has been described by the WHO as a “global epidemic”. In 2000, more than 300m people were obese but it is feared that, within a decade, up to half of the population of America will be so afflicted. The issue is a major public health problem throughout Europe.