A time to ration by Outofthepan

A TIME TO RATION?

Author: David Tame Senior Academic Staff Member Professional Cookery Studies School of Food, Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology Submitted as a requirement for completion of a Bachelor of Culinary Arts September 18th 2012

“A TIME TO RATION” INTRODUCTION Food rationing began in Great Britain began on the 8th January 1940 and finished on 30th June 1954 (Charman, 2010). Rationing was introduced by the newly created Ministry of Food, as a means of controlling food distribution and to ensure that the general populace received an equitable share of the limited supply of food available owing to shortages of supply brought about by the combination of blockades and an increase in war production. The diet of the working classes in Great Britain prior to World War II was far from healthy1, and with the equitable distribution of rationed food, hitherto unhealthy and malnourished sectors of British society found that they were eating better with rationing than before (Olsen,1963; Pyke, 2010) Infant mortality declined and the age at which people died from natural causes increased, attributed to the healthier diet (Winter, 1982). The wartime government, mindful of the negative effects on civilian morale, was careful to target specific groups (particularly children, expectant mothers and manual workers involved in important wartime work). The Rowett Carnegie report of 1955 which relied on the pre-war work of John Boyd-Orr,2 showed that the general health, weight, and height of women, children and the poorer classes improved when compared to pre-war levels according to a 1936 Food, Health and Income Report.

This paper discusses the rationed and controlled diet of wartime Britain, its beneficial effects on the general population and relates it to today’s issues of obesity and diet related health issues.3 It also raises the question of whether a

stronger focus on basic culinary education in schools could contribute to a healthier society. The Effects of Wartime Rationing on Diet Whilst the deprivations of wartime conditions have historically impacted upon civilian populations across the globe, the negative social consequences are counterbalanced by the positive effects arising from the associated rapid advances of technologies linked to warfare. Post-war healthcare, medicine, industry, transportation all benefitted; the wartime development of radar which produced the technology resulting in the domestic microwave oven is a case in point.4 As Driver 1983, p 17 suggests “Historians and nutritionists are agreed that for three prime reasons – scientific knowledge, efficient administration, and a newly discovered national sense of equity – Britain as a whole was more healthily fed during the 1940s than ever before (or since, some might add).” The reason for this has been proved to be solely due to the imposition of wartime food rationing imposed by the Ministry of Food (UK) to ensure all sectors of the population received a diet that would meet their nutritional needs. (Humble, 2006: 84-85). With the outbreak of the Second World War, “Raising the standards of the nation’s health was recognised as an essential prerequisite for maintaining morale” (Webster 1997:192). The government realized it could ensure a healthy nation along with a productive war machine. (Gillard, 2003).

The following illustrates what the weekly wartime ration actually allowed for:        

Meat: approx. 6 ounces (150g) Eggs: 1 Fats (butter, margarine and lard): 4 ounces (100g) Cheese: 4 ounces (100g) Bacon: 4 ounces (100g) initially only 2 ounces (50g) Sugar: 8 ounces (200g) initially 12 ounces (300g) Tea: 2 ounces (50g) Sweets: 2 ounces (50g)

Those foods not rationed were also in short supply (Longmate, 1971. p 140).

It is worth observing that bread was never rationed during the war, though bread rationing was instituted in 1946 finishing in 1948 after the war had ended. (Driver). The National Loaf as it was called, relied on an 82% extraction rate from the grain as a means of avoiding waste and increasing yield (essentially a wholemeal, brown loaf; white bread did not re-appear until 1951) (Oddy, 2003, p 171). Government nutritionists added calcium and thiamine to the bread, along with Vitamins A & D to margarine and milk to address the widespread issue of rickets which was a widespread problem throughout post-industrial revolution Britain (Holick, 2010). At the same time, under the directorship of Lord Woolton, Minister of Food, the British government embarked on a campaign to educate and inform the general public on ways to supplement the ration along with ideas on how to cook and feed themselves (Driver, 1983. p 23; Humble, 2006. p 91).

This was achieved via regular weekly radio broadcasts, distribution of recipe pamphlets, cookbooks and short films produced for the cinema market (Driver, 1983. p 21). The emphasis of these education programmes was placed on fresh, wholesome foods and a minimum of processed foods, along with replacing animal protein with vegetable protein and minimal fats (Humble, 2006). The population was encouraged also to “grow their own” vegetables to supplement expensive or scarce ingredients (Humble, 2006). A precedent was set with the wartime government’s willingness to intervene in the diet of the nation’s people. Controlling the type and content of the nutritional value of food, in the interests of public health, then, is interesting, given the public outcry today over calls to stop potentially beneficial additives in our food such as folate in bread5. Clearly a dilemma exists, with strong moral and ethical issues being raised if society is to address a large part of its health problems by some form of compulsory food controls. This could be instituted by rationing and/or compulsory dietary supplements in the interests of better and improved community health.

A 1999 British Medical Council survey (Prynne et al. 1999), made a comparison between the overall health of children in 1950 and those in the 1990s. The director of the study, Michael Wadsworth, stated in Stitt, (2003; p 4) “The government planners responsible for rationing and nutrition had done a stunningly good job – not only did everyone get enough to eat, they got the right things. This study shows that food and nutrient intake at the time was better than today”. Wadsworth (1999) also noted that, although post-war four year olds consumed more calories and fats than their 1990s counterparts, they would have been more active then, and consequently would have needed more energy. The wartime rationing model undoubtedly achieved its aims of feeding a nation’s population, albeit a system brought about by the exigencies of food shortages. The evidence clearly shows that the nutritionally sound diet controlled essentially by government mandate and administration contributed enormously to the physical well-being of the general populace. The Post-War Decline of Cooking Literacy After rationing was gradually lifted at the conclusion of World War II, finally finishing in 1954 in Britain (Gillard, 2003), the general public had access to foodstuffs without government imposed controls. Wartime imperatives to

conserve food, minimize waste and eat more vegetables and less animal protein were no longer there. Expotential wartime technological growth contributed to rapid advances in consumer society, particularly in the West. The availability and spread of television combined with advertising is a case in point. Gillard (2003), provides compelling evidence pointing to the post-war decline in children’s health, particularly obesity and its associated health problems. Successive governments, due to financial imperatives and a Conservative government trend from less state responsibility for the community and its general welfare to an individual being responsible for themselves, and by implication, their own health and welfare; a paradigm shift from wartime policies. This change in economic and social direction has its roots in the neoliberal policies of successive right leaning governments.6 The Role of Government in Food Education Stitt (1996), when commenting on concerns that the teaching of food skills were in danger of being lost due to government changes to the school curriculum, stated, “..cooking is becoming more and more domesticated and consequently will become more systemized, more mass produced, in which case young people need not be educated in basic cooking skills.”

Commented [RM1]: his sentence doesn’t make sense

Stitt (1996) implies that if basic cooking (by cooking he implies culinary education) is removed from schools, then the only source of cooking information will be in the home and as a consequence there will be a greater reliance on convenience and processed foods, with a resulting loss in basic food knowledge and fundamental cooking skills; the traditional intergenerational passing on of basic skills will decline as a result. Further, Tthe new curriculum re-aligned the area of home economics under the broad banner of food technology, which according to the British National Association of Teachers of Home Economics (year) is “biased towards industrial and commercial matters and tends to leave out domestic nutrition and health education”7. In June 1970, Margaret Thatcher (then Secretary of State for Education for the Conservative government in Britain), as part of government policy, made education cuts to free school milk (a wartime initiative), increased fees for the provision of school meals (another wartime idea aimed at keeping children healthy), increased library book lending charges along with further education fee increases (Gillard, 2003). When Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979, she stopped the provision of school milk completely, abolished minimum nutritional standards for school meals which were still partially subsidized by the state, and instituted a Commercial Competitive Tendering scheme for school meals, which effectively made schools accept the “cheapest” tender

which invariably revolved around the supply of fast-food type items8. Eventually, In 1998, under the 1986 Social Security Act, thousands of children lost their entitlement to free school meals9. A major ramification of the same government’s removal of Home Economics from the National Curriculum around the same time resulted in children leaving school with little interest in or understanding of food preparation. Gillard (2003) rightly makes the point that all of these factors contributed to a massive change in the nation’s diet, with less fresh food being cooked at home and an increasing reliance on ready-made convenience type food. A UK government imposed National Curriculum has seen an “optionialsation”10 of food skills in the curriculum with a feared result of an even greater reliance on pre-cooked, convenience foods, which are in general nutritionally inferior to home cooked meals and generally much more expensive, a major consideration for low income families. (Stitt, 1996:. p 27) The Link Between a Healthy Wartime Diet and a Global Obesity Problem The evidence according to the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2009) along with the World Health Organisation (WHO,

2009), shows that the wartime controlled diet of the general public was far healthier than what we are accustomed to today (See Table 1 and Table 2). Table 1

Percentage of population obese in 2007

Ita N et l he y rla nd s S w se de S w it z n er la nd

te d

U ni

N ew

Ze al an d in gd om Ic el Lu an xe d m bo ur g Ire la nd Fi nl an d S C lo an va ad k a R ep ub lic

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

1. Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Health Data 2009 - Frequently Requested Data 2. Overweight is defined as a BMI between 25 and 30 kg/m² (25≤ BMI <30 kg/m²) which is same as the HSE. 3. Obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 kg/m² or more (BMI ≥30 kg/m²). 4. Data for Luxembourg, New Zealand, Slovak Republic and the United Kingdom are based on actual height and weight measurements rather than self-reported data.

Table 2

Commented [RM2]: I am still not convinced that these tables demonstrate this. They are not time series data and that is what you need to prove that obesity rates have changed over time. I have little doubt that what you claim is true, it is just not supported by the evidence that you provide. Consider removing these tables and replacing with more appropriate evidence or just leave out altogether.

It is widely accepted today that there is a global obesity problem 11. Nearly five decades after Britain removed its rationing scheme (and according to the same OECD study, New Zealand), it is facing a new health obesity crisis brought on through overeating and under exercising, whilst consuming the â&#x20AC;&#x153;wrongâ&#x20AC;? foods12. Within the developed world, the problems associated with excessive consumption of fats and sugars such as obesity related heart disease, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, colon cancer and so on, are reaching what has been called epidemic proportions (Gillard, 2003). According to a survey of eating patterns across several cultures, it was found that there was an inverse correlation between obesity rates and the time spent on food preparation (Cutler, Glaeser, & Shapiro 2003). The rationale being, the more time a nation devotes to food preparation in the home, the lower its rate of obesity. Cutler et al (2003) state that the high obesity rates in the US where not attributable to more calories being consumed at meal times (bigger meal portions), but due to more meals per se being consumed. This was due to the greater availability of convenience or ready-prepared foods and fast foods as well as snack foods available outside the home. The wartime role of the state, by controlling availability, supply and distribution of essential foodstuffs, along with a clear programme of domestic culinary education through the media of the day, clearly impacted positively upon the state of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health. According to Lord Woolton, when addressing a

Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Institute group about the provision of free or subsidized school meals in 1945, he said: The young need protection and it is proper that the state should take deliberate steps to give them opportunityâ&#x20AC;ŚFeeding is not enough, it must be good feeding. The food must be chosen in the light of knowledge of what a growing child needs for building a sound body. And when the food is well chosen, it must be well cooked. This is a task that calls for the highest degree of scientific catering: it mustnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be left to chance. (Gillard, 2003. p 3) The Chef as Role Model for Positive Dietary Change A 1993 study of children from Britain and Iceland showed a clear correlation between improving the overall health of children and, not only diet, but also culinary education (Hague, 1993). In Iceland, it was found that along with basic food skills including preparation and cooking being a compulsory part of the school curriculum, the Icelandic children consumed more fresh fish, fresh fruit and vegetables, low fat milk and a significantly less amount of high fat, high sugar foods than their British counterparts. Schools in Iceland focused on teaching traditional cookery methods and sound nutrition practices as well as placing emphasis on the preparation, serving and eating family meals as a group (Stitt, 1996).

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver during his well publicised 1998 campaign in the UK, used the Ministry of Food title and (model) originating from the 1940s, and encouraged people to learn (or should that be re-learn) to cook, rather than rely on pre-cooked, processed, frozen or takeaway meals. Oliver, (2008) suggests that this can contribute to the frightening obesity levels observed today, particularly across the lower socio-economic strata’s within British society; “…Our mission is to empower, educate and inspire as many people as possible to love and enjoy good food”. A ‘YouGov SixthSense’ study released in 2010, showed that 10% of UK adults are influenced by government healthy eating campaigns, the figure falling to 8% for less affluent members of society; however media and celebrity influences are stronger, with 21% influenced by television and 31% were inspired on what to eat by cookery programmes.13 This indicates that the role of the chef, certainly within the realm of the chef as celebrity and celebrity ‘educator’ as portrayed by the media has made a positive contribution towards dietary change. Globally there is evidence of an awakening of a need to address the obesity issue, as we see US chefs such as Thomas Keller, David Chang, Tom Coliccio and Alice Waters also aligning themselves with an educational answer to the problem.14

Education Promoting a Healthy Diet In Finland, the government there also takes a leading role in the area of food and home economics education with the aim of developing better life skills (social, health, environmental and financial) in students (Stitt, 1996). France, Belgium and the Netherlands have similar schemes which produce positive results also (Stitt, 1996). Studies have shown that cooking classes or broadly based training schemes achieve positive behavioural changes in participants along with improvements to diet, additional lifestyle skills as well as being fun in their own right (Caraher, Dixon, Lang & Carr-Hill, 1999). It could be argued that multiple benefits arise when cooking and the teaching of basic cooking skills takes place in the education environment. It follows that, if basic cooking skills were taught in the home, then similar benefits would also accrue. (good food choices, good preparation skills, family relationships and so on). Research has shown, however, that the benefits can be difficult to quantify (Lang et al 1999; James and McColl, 1997). Figures extrapolated from a MORI 1993 Health and Lifestyle Survey15 commissioned by the UK Health Education Authority clearly show that after the home, schools provide most people with their knowledge of how to cook. If schools were to no longer provide basic culinary education, who will fill the void? (See Table 3).

Table 3 1993 MORI Health and Lifestyle Survey "When you first learned to cook, who taught you? 80

50 Female Male

C s oo k Bo oo o ki ks ng Pr Sp og ec r am ia lis tC oo M ke ag ry az Su in e pe Ar rm tic ar le Fo ke od tB P o ro ok du le t ce H ea rB lth oo kl C et en tre -D oc N to on r e of ab H ov av e e no tl ea rn t D on 't kn ow

la s

de r

C oo ke

oo ke

er C th

oo l Sc h

iv e

nd s

ld m in

Fr ie

us e

he r

el at

er R

Sp o

dm ot

th er G

ra n

ot h

The Effect of Global Mass Food Production on a Nation’s Diet A situation exists today, that it is not in the best interests financially of food manufacturers globally, as well as large restaurant chains, to “encourage” cooking in the home. That is, cooking defined as sourcing and preparing raw ingredients and completing the cooking process cycle from beginning to end. The more pre-prepared product the consumer buys, the more the food manufacturer makes. McDonald’s alone spent over £42m in 2002 on advertising in Britain16. Pre-prepared and ready to eat foods can be perceived as providing variety to monotonous diets and also encouraging people to be less reliant on skillful cooks (Mennell, 1996).

Whilst much of worldwide manufactured and heavily processed foodstuffs rely on high percentages of fat, sugar and sodium , flavours we as human beings are pre-disposed to enjoy, the careful consumer has at their disposal today a wide range of foodstuffs (processed or otherwise) that could be deemed to be “healthy”. The issue therefore becomes one of choice in our food purchases and ultimately what we eat. As large scale global manufacturing brings with it a decrease in production costs brought about by a question of scale, the consumer often finds it cheaper to purchase a ready-made product or dish than make it from “scratch” in the home. This was not an option available to the shopper during the years of wartime rationing, and the domestic cook was obliged to learn new and creative ways with a limited range of ingredients. For example: “…carrot flan…reminds you of apricot flan but has a deliciousness of its own” (1941 Ministry of Food Advertisement). Commensurate with more foods being purchased in a preprepared state comes less of a need or requirement to possess cooking skills in order to feed oneself. Yet, paradoxically, television shows, and cookbooks about food have never been more popular. However, according to Pollan (2009: 26) :

Buying, not making, is what cooking shows are mostly about – that and increasingly, cooking shows themselves: the whole selfperpetuating spectacle of competition, success and celebrity. A Positive Pathway to the Future Wartime initiatives aimed at educating the public to be pro-active and to a certain degree self-sufficient wherever possible through such schemes as planting and growing their own vegetables, thrift in use of ingredients, and minimizing waste under the umbrella of “supporting the war effort” could be “re-packaged” for today’s population. Celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver have been quick to recognize the (commercial) value of such an approach to reeducating the public, while governments have tended to be less proactive developing such education. The highly visible campaign developed by the Ministry of Food designed to conserve food, showed the important role of education in this process. The reintroduction of a targeted, compulsory education programme directed at primary and secondary level students, covering a basic culinary syllabus, has the potential to alleviate a wide number of problem health and socio-economic problems we are encountering not only today but also for the foreseeable future.

Commented [RM3]: This is a very long sentence

References/Bibliography: Caraher, M., Dixon, P., Lang, T., & Carr-Hill, R. (1999). The state of cooking in England: the relationship of cooking skills to food choice. British Food Journal, 101(8) Charman, T. (2010). Imperial war museums ministry of food: Terry charman explores food rationing. Retrieved from http://www.culture24.org.uk/history & heritage/war & conflict/world war two/art76114 Cutler, D., Glaeser, E., & Shapiro, J. (2003). Why have Americans become more obese? (National Bureau of Economic Research, Working paper 9446). Retrieved from website: http://www.nber.org/papers/w9446 Driver, C. (1983). The British at table 1940-1980. London: Chatto & Windus Hogarth Press. Gillard, D (2003) Food for Thought: child nutrition, the school dinner and the food industry http://www.educationengland.org.uk/articles/22food.html Hague, M. (1993). Teenage diet in Britain and Iceland. Modus, 11(4), 119-23.

Holick, M. (2010). The vitamin d deficiency pandemic: a forgotton hormone important for health. Public Health Reviews, 32(1), 267-283.

Humble, N. (2006). Culinary pleasures - cookbooks and the transformation of British food. London: Faber & Faber

James, W.P.T. & McColl, K.A. (1997). Healthy English schoolchildren: a new approach to physical activity and food. A proposal for the Minister for Public Health. Aberdeen, UK: Rowlett Research Institute.

Lang,T., Caraher, M., Dixon, P., & Carr-Hill, R., (1999). Cooking skills and health. London: UK Health Education Authority

Longmate, N. (1971). How we lived then: a history of everyday life during the second world war. London: Hutchinson & Co. Ltd.

Mennell, S. (1996). All manners of food: Eating and taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the present. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Oddy, D. (2003). From plain fare to fusion food: British diet from the 1890s to the 1900s. New York: Boydell Press.

Olsen, M. (1963. The economics of the wartime shortage. N.Carolina: University Press

Oliver, J. (2008). Ministry of food. (1st ed.). London: Michael Joseph http://www.jamieoliver.com/jamies-ministry-of-food

Pollan, M. (2009). Out of the kitchen, onto the couch. The New York Times Magazine, 29 July 2009.

Prynne CJ, Paul AA, Price GM, Day KC, Hilder WS, Wadsworth ME. (1999) Food and nutrient intake of a national sample of 4-year-old children in 1950: comparison with the 1990s. Public Health Nutrition 2(4):537-47

Pyke, M. (2010). Imperial war museums ministry of food: Terry charman explores food rationing. Retrieved from http://www.culture24.org.uk/history & heritage/war & conflict/world war two/art76114 Stitt, S. (1996). An international perspective on food and cooking skills in education. British food journal, 98(10), 27-34.

Young, W. & N. (2010) World War II and the postwar years in America, Vol I : an historical and cultural encyclopedia. California, ABC-CLIO Wartime Rationing in the UK http:// www.medicalnewstoday.com.releases/9728.php

Webster, C (1997). Government policy on school meals and welfare foods 1939-1970. In D F Smith (1997). Nutrition in Britain: science, scientists, and politics in the twentieth century. 190-213 London: Routledge

Winter, J. (1982). Aspects of the first world war on infant mortality in Britain. Journal of European economic history, 11(3), 713-38. 1

"The families in that third of the population of Britain who in 1938 were chronically undernourished had their first adequate diet in 1940 and 1941 ... [after which] the incidence of deficiency diseases, and notably infant mortality, dropped dramatically. Source: http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_Kingdom#World_War_II 2

In a major study, Food Health and Income, published in 1936 Boyd Orr and his colleagues classified the UK population into six groups according to income, then estimated the adequacy of the diet consumed by each of the groups. The study established that more than a third of the population (the poorest third) did not enjoy a diet that was up to the "health standard", with the main reason being their inadequate purchasing power . Between 1937 and 1939, a more detailed study was carried out of thirteen hundred families throughout England and Scotland, involving nearly 8,000 people in 16 locations. This was hailed as the "largest empirical inquiry hitherto attempted in Britain into the relationship between health and diet." Lord Woolton, the wartime Minister of Food, subsequently pointed out that the Rowett Carnegie Survey’s evidence on food consumption at different income levels was of great importance in evolving wartime food policy. Boyd Orr himself observed that "in spite of the acute food shortages, the women and children of the poorer classes were healthier at the end of the war than at the beginning of it." 3

Today's eight-year-olds consume on average 1,200 calories a day more than the generation of youngsters who were fed on wartime rations between 1940 and 1954. A 2003 study involved feeding school children food based on a wartime rationing diet. The wartime menu for the study was drawn up by cookery writer Marguerite Patten, who was an adviser to the Ministry of Food during the war. Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-205213/WW2-diet-better-kids.html#ixzz22RCorQEF 4

http://www.gallawa.com/microtech/history.html

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/deadline-looms-folic-acid-submissions-4960267

The main points of neo-liberalism include: 1.

3. 4.

THE RULE OF THE MARKET. Liberating "free" enterprise or private enterprise from any bonds imposed by the government (the state) no matter how much social damage this causes. Greater openness to international trade and investment, as in NAFTA. Reduce wages by de-unionizing workers and eliminating workers' rights that had been won over many years of struggle. No more price controls. All in all, total freedom of movement for capital, goods and services. To convince us this is good for us, they say "an unregulated market is the best way to increase economic growth, which will ultimately benefit everyone." It's like Reagan's "supply-side" and "trickle-down" economics -- but somehow the wealth didn't trickle down very much. CUTTING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE FOR SOCIAL SERVICES like education and health care. REDUCING THE SAFETY-NET FOR THE POOR, and even maintenance of roads, bridges, water supply -- again in the name of reducing government's role. Of course, they don't oppose government subsidies and tax benefits for business. DEREGULATION. Reduce government regulation of everything that could diminish profits, including protecting the environment and safety on the job. PRIVATIZATION. Sell state-owned enterprises, goods and services to private investors. This includes banks, key industries, railroads, toll highways, electricity, schools, hospitals and even fresh water. Although usually done in the name of greater efficiency, which is often needed, privatization has mainly had the effect of concentrating wealth even more in a few hands and making the public pay even more for its needs. ELIMINATING THE CONCEPT OF "THE PUBLIC GOOD" or "COMMUNITY" and replacing it with "individual responsibility." Pressuring the poorest people in a society to find solutions to their lack of health care, education and social security all by themselves -- then blaming them, if they fail, as "lazy." Source: http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=376

As reported in The Observer 8th January 1995. p 7, “Battle Joined for Shares in the Curriculum”.

Gillard citing reporter Joanna Blythman’s comments in The Guardian newspaper 23 rd July, 1999

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/50/section/77

Optionalisation = UK Governmental term for non-compulsory

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology Copyright 2002 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.2002, Vol. 70, No. 3, 510â&#x20AC;&#x201C;525 Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and other developed nations. In the United States, 27% of adults are obese and an additional 34% are overweight. Research in the past decade has shown that genetic influences clearly predispose some individuals to obesity. The marked increase in prevalence, however, appears to be attributable to a toxic environment that implicitly discourages physical activity while explicitly encouraging the consumption of supersized portions of high-fat, high-sugar foods. Management of the obesity epidemic will require a two-pronged approach. First, better treatments, including behavioral, pharmacologic, and surgical interventions, are needed for individuals who are already obese. The second and potentially more promising approach is to prevent the development of obesity by tackling the toxic environment. This will require bold public policy initiatives such as regulating food advertising directed at children. The authors call not for the adoption of a specific policy initiative, but instead propose that policy research, based on viewing obesity as a public health problem, become a central focus of research. Source: The Information Centre National Health Service::Statistics on obesity, physical activity and diet: England, 2011 http://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/003_Health_Lifestyles/opad11/Statistics_on_Obesity_Physical_Activity _and_Diet_England_2011_revised_Aug11.pdf 12

Obesity rates have increased in recent decades in all OECD countries, although there are notable differences. In New Zealand, the obesity rate among adults, based on actual measures of height and weight, was 27.8% in 2009. It is lower than in the United States (35.9% in 2010), but higher than in most other OECD countries for which measured data are available. The average for the 15 OECD countries with recent measured data was 22.2%. Obesityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growing prevalence foreshadows increases in the occurrence of health problems (such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases), and higher health care costs in the future.Source: http://www.oecd.org/health/healthpoliciesanddata/BriefingNoteNewZealand2012.pdf 13

http://www.nursingtimes.net/whats-new-in-nursing/news-topics/public-health/celebrity-chefs-influence-eatinghabits-more-than-government/5016938.article and http://www.sixthsense.yougov.com/news.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9jeeq6ZmDg

http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/documents/healthlstyle_survey.pdf (pp. 82-84)

According to J Revill reporting in The Observer 17 th November 2002