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** 27 June 2024
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** UK
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** Ultra-processed foods need tobacco-style warnings, says scientist (#1)
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** NHS weight-loss services turning away new patients due to Ozempic demand (#5)
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** UK public support ban on gambling ads at sports events, says charity (#2)
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** UK
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** Ultra-processed foods need tobacco-style warnings, says scientist

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are displacing healthy diets “all over the world” despite growing evidence of the risks they pose and should be sold with tobacco-style warnings, according to the nutritional scientist who first coined the term.

Prof Carlos Monteiro of the University of São Paulo will highlight the increasing danger UPFs present to children and adults at the International Congress on Obesity this week.

“UPFs are increasing their share in and domination of global diets, despite the risk they represent to health in terms of increasing the risk of multiple chronic diseases,” Monteiro told the Guardian ahead of the conference in São Paulo.

“UPFs are displacing healthier, less processed foods all over the world, and also causing a deterioration in diet quality due to their several harmful attributes. Together, these foods are driving the pandemic of obesity and other diet-related chronic diseases, such as diabetes.”

In the UK and US, more than half the average diet now consists of ultra-processed food. For some, especially people who are younger, poorer or from disadvantaged areas, a diet comprising as much as 80% UPF is typical.

In February, the world’s largest review of its kind found UPFs were directly linked to 32 harmful effects to health, including a higher risk of heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, adverse mental health and early death.

“Public health campaigns are needed like those against tobacco to curb the dangers of UPFs,” Monteiro told the Guardian in an email. “Such campaigns would include the health dangers of consumption of UPFs.

“Advertisements for UPFs should also be banned or heavily restricted, and front-of-pack warnings should be introduced similar to those used for cigarette packs.”

Monteiro will draw parallels between UPF and tobacco companies. “Both tobacco and UPFs cause numerous serious illnesses and premature mortality; both are produced by transnational corporations that invest the enormous profits they obtain with their attractive/addictive products in aggressive marketing strategies, and in lobbying against regulation; and both are pathogenic (dangerous) by design, so reformulation is not a solution.”

However, Dr Hilda Mulrooney, a reader in nutrition and health at London Metropolitan University, said comparing UPF to tobacco was “very simplistic”.

“There is no such thing as a safe cigarette, even second-hand, so banning them is relatively straightforward in that the health case is very clear.

“However, we need a range of nutrients including fat, sugar and salt, and they have multiple functions in foods – structural, shelf-life – not just taste and flavour and hedonic properties.

“It is not as easy to reformulate some classes of foods to reduce them and they are not the same as tobacco because we need food – just not in the quantities most of us are consuming.”

Source: The Guardian, 27 June 2024
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** NHS weight-loss services turning away new patients due to Ozempic demand

Specialist weight-loss services in England are turning patients away with experts suggesting the demand for weight-loss injections may be fuelling the rise in referrals.

One in six integrated care boards (ICBs) in England, which are responsible for planning health services for their local population, have stopped accepting new patients for specialist weight management services as their referral numbers spiral out of control, an investigation by The BMJ has found.

At least seven out of 42 ICBs across the country – covering Manchester, Bristol, Suffolk, Leicester, Essex, and much of Yorkshire – have had to close a specialist (tier 3) weight management service list in their area, with many warning that demand is far exceeding capacity. One obesity service reached its three-year quota of patients in less than 17 weeks.

Experts have said the rise in obesity and the demand for weight-loss injections, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, may be fuelling the increase in referrals, but they blame a lack of consistent government policy for hindering the ability of weight management services to keep up with the growing demand.

Across England, almost two thirds (64 per cent) of adults are estimated to be overweight or obese. But in April 2022, the Government pulled its £100m funding grant for weight management services in England, just a year after it was announced.

Nerys Astbury, associate professor of diet and obesity at the University of Oxford, described the availability of specialist weight management services as “unequal and very limited, or completely absent in some regions”.

She told The BMJ that even where services do exist, “they are over-subscribed, waiting lists have been capped, or budgetary limitations mean services are at risk of being de-commissioned”.

David Buck, senior fellow at The King’s Fund, said the Government has had a “mixed record in the past on supporting health and weight management services, including reducing funding”. He said a “more strategic response” to tackling obesity, including through specialist services, was now needed.

Mr Buck said that the increasing obesity crisis and demand for weight-loss services require the Government to take “bold action” to help people to live healthier lives, particularly as demand for support far exceeds what local services are set up to offer.

He pointed to recent polling by The King’s Fund which indicated strong public support (65 per cent) for restricting the advertising of unhealthy food and drink, and for the Government to require companies to reduce the salt, sugar, and fat in their products (67 per cent support).

“In the long-run, prevention policies, including those to tackle obesity, will be far cheaper than treating the symptoms of ill-health and a new government needs to act decisively,” Mr Buck said.

Source: i news, 27 June 2024

See also: The BMJ - Obesity: Integrated care boards close lists for weight management services as demand skyrockets ([link removed])
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** UK public support ban on gambling ads at sports events, says charity

GambleAware, a charity funded by donations from the betting industry, has called on the next government to ban betting advertising at sports events and on pre-watershed television, citing research that indicates strong public support for stricter controls.

The survey for GambleAware, which comes amid the usual marketing frenzy that accompanies a major football tournament such as Euro 2024, found that two-thirds of people in the UK think there are too many betting adverts.

The government published a white paper on gambling regulation last year that outlined a series of proposals for more stringent regulation, such as a £5 cap on digital slot machine stakes and new affordability checks to stem excess losses.

But the shake-up would have left advertising almost entirely untouched, an omission that GambleAware has previously called a “missed opportunity”.

The charity is calling on the next government to go further and ban all gambling marketing at sports events. This would include the removal of sponsorships from sports clothing and merchandise, as well as wider stadium areas.

GambleAware is also calling for a pre-watershed ban on all broadcast gambling ads on TV, video on demand and radio.

The charity has also called for smoking-style health warnings on gambling products, warning punters of the potential risks.

Source: The Guardian, 27 June 2024
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.

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