The government must prioritise preventing obesity in future generations over the interests of the food and drink industry, MPs say, as they make recommendations to better regulate advertising, promotions and labelling of food, as well as making it easier for people to access healthier options.
Proposals in the cross-party Committee’s new report aim to fix a food environment that pushes consumers towards high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) products which are typically cheaper than nutritious foods.
The Committee urges Ministers to quickly bring in mandatory reporting and targets for supermarkets, backed up with penalties, on the amount of healthy food they sell, and new planning policies to stop fast food outlets opening close to schools.
The report also recommends improvements to the NHS’s successful Healthy Start cards, given to pregnant women and parents of young children to buy fruits and vegetables.
MPs challenge the government to be more courageous in the face of industry lobbying against restrictions, which has meant that attempts to tackle obesity through food policy have continually failed.
In 2024, 30% of adults in England were living with obesity, a further 36% were overweight, according to NHS England. 28% of children aged 13 to 15 were overweight or obese.
The Department of Health and Social Care, citing research by Frontier Economics, said obesity costs the UK £74.3 billion per year, including £11.4 billion to the NHS, £8.9bn to business, £0.4 billion to social care and costs from reduced quality of life of £48.1 billion.
Between August 2024 and July 2025, nearly £680m was spent on advertising food and soft drinks through TV, radio and outdoors. Products such as sweets, chocolates and crisps accounted for 29% of that spend (£196m), whereas fruit and vegetables were 3%.
This report comes from the Committee’s food and weight management inquiry. A second report, focusing on weight treatment and medication, will be published later this year.
