Good Food for Camden - Sustain

Good Food FOr CamdenGood Food, health and the environmentThere are clear links between a poor diet and obesity. In turn,being overweight or obese is associated with an increased risk ofdiabetes, cancer, and heart and liver disease, as well as otherhealth problems. These illnesses place huge pressure onindividuals and families and the NHS, with overall costs to societyforecast to reach £50 billion per year by 2050 5 . In Britain, almosttwo-thirds of adults and a third of children are either overweight orobese 6 and it is predicted that, without coordinated action, thesefigures will rise to over two-thirds of adults and two-thirds ofchildren by 2050.Data from the National ChildNHS Camden and theMeasurement Programme provides Council aim to reduce theprevalence of obesity inobesity rates for children withinchildren in year 6 to 21%reception year and year six inby 2011.Camden. The latest data (2007/08Camden Local Areaschool year) shows an obesity rate Agreementof 9.6 per cent at reception year. Thisis lower than both London and national averages, but levels ofobesity are not exceptionally low. Camden ranks 72 out of 152boroughs nationally for this age and these figures worsen by yearsix, where 22.1 per cent of Camden’s children are obese (28thhighest nationally).The cross-government strategy ‘Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives’(2008) focuses on reducing the proportion of overweight and obesechildren to 2000 levels by 2020. To help fulfill this ambition, thereport focuses on five main policy areas:■■■■■■■■■■the healthy growth and development of childrenpromoting healthier food choicesbuilding physical activity into our livescreating incentives for better healthpersonalised advice and supportImproving access to healthy, sustainable, affordable and locallygrown food has the potential to tackle entrenched problems ofsocial and health inequalities as well as the looming obesity crisis.In addition, it would shift the focus from treating illness and moretowards disease prevention, in line with Department of Health’s keyobjectives 7 .For more information on current NHS Camden and CamdenCouncil initiatives on healthy eating see appendix 3 page 44.10