Obesity levels in the UK could be greatly reduced if overweight people cut out a large glass of wine, a pint of beer or a bar of chocolate from their daily diet, according to experts.
Two in three adults in the UK are considered overweight, something that is costing the NHS £6bn every year. But the Daily Mail reports that removing just over 200 calories from the average overweight Briton's diet could halve obesity rates according to analysis by Nesta, which calls itself an innovation agency for social good.
This figure equates to around one large glass of wine (227 calories), a pint of beer (182), 500ml of Coca-Cola (210) or two-and-a-half chocolate digestive biscuits.
Nesta is campaigning to halve obesity rates by 2030. Data scientist Elena Mariani and the team calculated how many calories overweight Britons would need to cut to bring obesity levels down to levels in the early 1990s, when 14 per cent of the population was considered obese compared to 28 per cent now.
Results showed that people would need to cut 216 calories per day, on average. For men, the figure was 241 calories, while women would need to cut 190 calories, although the team urged people not to use these figures to set individual calorie reduction targets.
Instead, Nesta says there should be intervention to reformulate food, reduce junk food advertising and shift promotions towards healthier foods, they said. These could include producers changing their recipes and portion sizes.
In a separate analysis, Nesta's researchers said cakes, biscuits, chocolate and ready meals, along with crisps and savoury pastries, were contributing the most calories to the UK's shopping baskets. Reformulating these products to cut between five and 10 per cent of calories would see the average person in the UK lose 38 calories each day.
To achieve this, it said, the Government should set mandated calorie reduction targets for the worst-offending foods and incentives companies to meet them with a league table of supermarkets doing the most to make food healthier published.
Ravi Gurumurthy, chief executive of Nesta, said halving obesity is a "significant but achievable challenge". He said: "The number of people living with obesity has doubled in 30 years and that has very little to do with willpower or our personal choices.
"Over three decades, the food and drinks we buy have become bigger, cheaper, and far more calorific. There is a compelling case for the Government to invest seriously in prevention."
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