Nesta's blueprint for halving obesity

Poor health caused by excess weight is one of the leading causes of death across the UK. Since the early 1990s, obesity rates have doubled, blighting people’s lives and putting huge pressure on our NHS as well as damaging our economy through lost productivity.

Nesta has collaborated with academic experts to build a toolkit that evaluates the impact and cost of different policies to reduce obesity. For the first time, it is possible to identify the most effective routes to pursue and at what scale, based on the strength of the evidence about what works and how much each would cost to implement.

The toolkit compares the effectiveness of a wide range of policies focused on reducing obesity. It considers policies like advertising restrictions, weight-loss drugs, taxes and public education measures. In each case policies are given a traffic-light rating for impact on obesity, quality of evidence and cost to governments.

Using the blueprint toolkit, the team has produced a series of policy packages - including Nesta’s recommended ‘prevention and treatment’ package - to help policymakers and governments chart a course to halving obesity in the UK.

Any successful package needs to incentivise food businesses to sell healthier products – through tax or regulation – and provide treatment for those who need it most. Focussing on information, education and voluntary action will not work.