Using recommendations drawn up at the European governmental level, by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), a number of U.K. councils are pressing fast-food outlets to:
Cook with less oil;
Offer salad or rice instead of chips;
Use dry spice mixes to prepare Indian food rather than spices in oil;
Ensure that water is cheaper than fizzy drinks;
Fry chips in rapeseed oil rather than in vegetable oil;
Use ‘reduced hole’ shakers that sprinkle less salt.
Commenting on this measures, Sue Bagwell, of the Cities Institute at London Metropolitan University, who was involved in the research, said: “There are many changes which businesses can make that do not cost money and in some cases can even be more profitable…small gradual changes which go unnoticed by customers seemed to be most successful.”
The British government, however, in a report is less sold on these types of measures. A statement from Public Health England indicates that the “causes of obesity are incredibly complex and that limited or short term solutions will only scratch the surface.”
Instead the health agency proposes a ‘whole systems’ approach in which factors like sport centers, planning permission for fast food outlets, school education and so on are integrated into a system and analyzed for distinctive communities. The concept is discussed in the video below:
As an example of the importance of different communities having different needs, a report by the Scottish government shows wide disparities in difference regions of Scotland for health and life expectancy, with Glasgow City having the worst health outcomes.
