Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is urging the Prime Minister to take drastic action against childhood obesity.
The 45-year-old star, who has always been passionate about young people’s diet, wants Boris Johnson to start introducing a plan he has drawn up to boost healthy eating among children and teenagers.
Speaking to The Times newspaper, the chef said: “This gives Boris a massive opportunity to change the health trajectory of millions of kids.
“To use Boris’s own words: the policies are ‘oven-ready’, so let’s get on with it and put child health at the heart of the government’s upcoming strategy.
“It looks like Boris has definitely realised the massive importance of this issue and I’m really pleased about that.”
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This comes as figures have shown that three in 10 children in reception are either classed as obese or overweight and a fifth of children (22 per cent) aged between four and five are considered fat.
Separate findings published by the NHS have found a link between obesity and COVID-19. The figures have shown that 75 per cent of people admitted to intensive care with coronavirus are overweight.
Mr Johnson himself ended up there when he contracted the virus and he has reportedly told friends he believed his weight may have played a part in how seriously ill he was.
A Department of Health spokesman said: “We are determined to tackle the problem of obesity. We have already made huge progress towards our goal of halving childhood obesity by 2030 – cutting sugar from half of drinks on sale, funding exercise programmes in schools and working with councils to tackle child obesity locally.”
Some of Mr Oliver’s ideas to curb childhood obesity include reducing business rates to zero for companies which sell healthy food and ensuring any junk food advertising is only permitted after 9pm.
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