Largest weight management organisation welcomes Government’s industry reforms

The UK and Ireland’s largest weight management organisation, Slimming World, welcomes the recent announcement from the Government as part of the NHS 10 Year Plan, which sets a new standard for retailers such as supermarkets to make the average shopping basket of goods sold healthier. 

Carolyn Pallister, Registered Dietitian and Head of Nutrition, Research & Health at Slimming World, says: “We have long been calling on the Government to commit to legislation to support supermarkets in promoting healthier choices to customers. In 2019, we published research highlighting how supermarket layout, pricing strategies and the shopping environment contribute to the UK's rising obesity levels."

The Health on the Shelf report published in 2019 by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and Slimming World, exposed marketing tactics used to drive sales of unhealthy products. It also revealed that over one third (36%) of shoppers reported that they impulse purchased unhealthy products because they are on special offer, and one in five said supermarkets cause them to go off track when attempting to lose weight. 

A survey of over 2,000 slimmers following Slimming World’s eating plan online or attending a local weekly group undertaken at the time of the report, found that since becoming a Slimming World member, 86% had changed the way they shop. 

The report recommended the Government adopted a set of key principles to apply to all major supermarket retailers, and we’re pleased to see similar suggestions being made in this week’s announcement, including: 

• Greater allocation of shelf space to healthier products, based on the Government’s EatWell Guide; 
• Explore the introduction of a healthy rating scheme, similar to the FSA’s Food Hygiene Rating Scheme ‘scores on the doors’, based on the proportion of healthy and unhealthy products stocked. 

Carolyn continues: “For the last two years, obesity strategy has focused almost entirely on weight loss drugs with little acknowledgement of other treatment options or major contributors towards obesity, such as the environment in which we live.  

“Weight loss drugs are undoubtedly changing the obesity landscape, but without support to make lasting changes, people taking the drugs will inevitably regain the weight they’ve lost once they stop. People need support to make life-long healthy habits around food and drink  – including their shopping habits – and their activity. There needs to be adequate, evidence-based support for people who don’t want to, or can’t, take the drugs. 

"We are calling on the Government to go further and not only tackle environmental factors but commit to a range of treatment options available to healthcare professionals for their patients, not just drugs, to support people to lose weight and help to alleviate pressures on the NHS caused by obesity-related health conditions.  

“We would welcome the opportunity to meet with the Department of Health and Social Care to talk about our commitment to support the Government in helping people whose lives are adversely impacted by obesity.”