Weighing up options for a slimmer Union

By Emily Smith

Date: 01/12/05

This month, the European Commission will ask how EU citizens can be made to lose weight.

A Green Paper on health and nutrition, to be published on 7 December, will kick-start government and lobby group discussions on bringing down the number of overweight and obese Europeans.

It will ask what a future EU strategy on obesity should say, considering issues such as encouraging physical exercise and healthy eating.

There will be a particular focus on the number of overweight school children, believed to be rising at about 400,000 a year. The Green Paper will ask what can be learned from national policy on this, particularly in schools.

The UK in September banned its schools from selling snacks deemed unhealthy, such as chocolate and crisps.

The role of employers in encouraging their staff to stay slim will also come up for discussion.

The Green Paper will ask where more research is needed and how infor-mation can be improved on, for example, the effect of consumer education, advertising, and self-regulation.

Obesity is linked to health problems including heart disease and diabetes. The issue has been the subject of much EU attention in recent years. Data from the international obesity task force in March said more than 200 million EU adults could be overweight, and that the number was rising.

Most recently, 2005 has seen the launch of an EU 'obesity platform' of interested groups. The platform is currently discussing ways in which different sectors can tackle the problem (see article below).

Jim Murray, director of EU consumer group BEUC, said there was a particular need for the Green Paper to address the problem of food adverts and marketing aimed at children.

"Of course we don't think advertising alone is to blame, but it can make it hard for parents to give their children the right things to eat and to form their tastes for later in life."

The European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), which also has its own international obesity task force, welcomed the Green Paper. Lara Garrido-Herrero of EPHA said she hoped it would soon lead to specific actions: "We would specially like to see concrete legislative proposals, as opposed to the increasing use of platforms and round tables where a few stakeholders meet to debate the extent of the problem."

People are considered overweight when their body mass index (BMI) is more than 25 and obese when this reaches 30. BMI is calculated by dividing weight in kilos by height in metres and then by height a second time.

Article anticipates the adoption by the European Commission of a Green Paper on health and nutrition on 7 December 2005. This was meant to launch government and lobby group discussions on bringing down the number of overweight and obese Europeans.