
Michelle Obama runs with schoolchildren during an event to promote physical activity, on the South Lawn at the White House.
High-profile leadership, perhaps by a member of the royal family who could take on a similar role to that played by Michelle Obama in the US, is needed to solve the obesity crisis in the UK, according to one of the authors of a report published on Tuesday.
The report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) finds that too little is being done for adults who are severely overweight. NHS services are "extremely patchy", it says, even though a quarter of all adults are obese and it is estimated that by 2050 most of the population will be.
Professor John Wass, chair of the working party that produced the report, says there is a real need for leadership. The report calls for a senior figure in government who will take charge of obesity issues across all departments ? from education to health, to agriculture and work and pensions.
Wass says we could learn from the US, where Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, and Michelle Obama in the White House have been leading a successful fight against obesity. He said: "I think we could have a senior figure in London, rather like the mayor of New York, who has led on having smaller measures of Coca-Cola in cups and other things. Michelle Obama has had a huge effect on obesity and getting things labelled.
Link: UK needs its own Michelle Obama to tackle obesity, say doctors | Society | The Guardian


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