Diabetes and obesity are government priorities, says Jeremy Hunt

[DCUK NewsBot]

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced that tackling diabetes and obesity is a priority for the new Conservative Government. Hunt, speaking at the King’s Fund's fifth annual leadership and management summit, said that there would be a "big new public health agenda around obesity and diabetes." By 2030, the NHS estimates that 4.6 million people in England will have diabetes, with 90 per cent of those being affected by type 2 diabetes. In 2010, there were approximately 3.1 million people aged 16 and over with diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes. This predicted rise illustrates the necessity for prioritising diabetes as a major health concern, while obesity, a leading cause of type 2 diabetes, costs the NHS £5 billion annually. In England, nearly two-thirds of adults are classed as overweight or obese, which increases an individual's risk of other health conditions, such as stroke, heart disease and cancer. "I think it is a great scandal that one in five children leave primary school clinically obese and it is something that we cannot say that we accept. We absolutely need to do something about that," said Hunt. Hunt aims to focus on empowering general practise, which is "one of the most demoralised parts of the NHS at the moment". He hopes to achieve this by reducing burnout, improving the capacity of general practice and increasing the numbers of GPs. Hunt added a number of NHS services remain under "absolutely huge pressures" to make efficiencies and that this needs to be addressed.

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[Gezzabelle]

Whilst diabetes and obesity are so obviously on the rise the government does nothing to tackle the issue of manufacturers piling so much junk in to our food. Pretty much everything we buy has been added to or interfered with in some way. False labeling claiming ''low fat'' or ''reduced salt or sugar'' only goes to make people believe they are eating a healthy product when in fact it is loaded with all the things that cause obesity and diabetes. Every high street is bursting at the seams with take aways and cheap offers at supermarkets are inevitably for bottles of fizzy drinks, packs of doughnuts or chocolate and crisps etc. Perhaps the issue of obesity and diabetes goes way deeper than people over eating or not getting enough exercise. Perhaps it is time the manufacturers were made to address what they are doing to our food. As someone who had a childhood where there was no convenience foods and everything was made from scratch (and there was no real obesity problem or high numbers of diabetes)...I can fully see where todays problems have come from.....poor manufacturing control....people not being bothered to make real food as it so easy to buy it ready made...which is great ...apart from the ignorance as to what is actually in the easy way of convenience foods and what it actually does to the body. Until I was diagnosed I had what I thought was a reasonable understanding of food and what was good or bad for me....but had no clue as it turned out that everything I ate turned to sugar and over loaded my system. Maybe education and manufacturing control would go a long way to beating both issues...obesity and diabetes

 

[donnellysdogs]

Weightwatchers people at our locality have actually had to find ways of teaching people to cook!!!
Friend of mine now goes to Harvester for eat as much as you like breakfasts... And he wonders why he is fat!!!!
People jyst aren't taught basic nutrition at school nowadays. Schols gave up cookery lessons and having kitchens for a good while.. And they wonder why the generations nowadays know nothing of nutrition?
It beggars belief to me.
I honestly do not know of one single adult around me that trys to balance their nutrition...not one. It's so sad.