Food plan unlikely to beat obesity crisis, leading UK inequalities expert warns

Michael Marmot warned that for poorer parents: ‘it’s just cheaper to give your kids bread and jam, or biscuits, than it is to give them fruit or fresh vegetables.’ Photograph: Islandstock/Alamy

The focus on personal responsibility rather than official action in the government’s national food strategy is unlikely to tackle the UK’s obesity crisis, a leading authority on public health has said.

Sir Michael Marmot, who has led pioneering research into health disparities, said the approach was not supported by evidence, and that he was disappointed the strategy had dropped many of the recommendations of Henry Dimbleby, the government’s lead adviser on food.