You can spot the poor, they are the fat ones eating breakfast buns': Health minister says obesity is linked to class
- Death of the dinner table means more eat junk food in front of the television
By BEN SPENCER
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Anna Soubry says parents should ensure children have proper meals
Health Minister Anna Soubry has risked controversy by claiming that she can spot poor people in the street because they are usually overweight.
The Conservative MP, who has responsibility for public health, said a culture of unhealthy TV dinners and junk food has eroded family life and that many homes no longer even have a dining table.
The MP for Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire, said: ‘When I go to my constituency, when I walk around, you can almost now tell somebody’s background by their weight.
'Obviously not everybody who is overweight comes from deprived backgrounds, but that’s where the propensity lies.’
She also said that on her way to the Houses of Parliament she sees children eating 'breakfast buns' from fast food shops, a change from when she was younger and poorer pupils were 'skinny runts'.
Speaking at a conference hosted by the Food and Drink Federation, which represents UK manufacturers, she warned them that they should voluntarily cut the amount of fat, sugar and salt in their products or ministers may have to force them to act through legislation.
She said it was ‘heartbreaking’ that the poorest in the country were those at greatest risk of obesity.
‘A third of our children leave primary school overweight or obese,’ she said. ‘When I was at school, you could tell the demography of children by how thin they were.’
But now, in a ‘deeply ironic’ turnaround, poor children tend to be overweight because their parents supply them with ‘an abundance of bad food’, she told the Daily Telegraph.
Miss Soubry put the responsibility for properly feeding children firmly with their parents, who should ensure that they have family meals.
‘What they don’t do is actually sit down and share a meal around the table,’ she said. ‘There are houses where they don’t have dining tables. They will sit in front of the telly and eat.
‘It doesn’t mean to say you can’t ever sit in front of the telly and have a meal, but I believe children need structure in their lives, they need routine.’
The MP says the death of the dinner table has led to soaring obesity rates amongst children - particularly poorer ones
According to Department of Health figures, the poorest children are almost twice as likely to be obese than the wealthiest.
Government figures published last month showed that 24.3 per cent of the most deprived 11-year-olds in England were obese, compared with 13.7 per cent of children from the wealthiest homes.
Miss Soubry warned in October that the food industry was fuelling the obesity crisis, when she told supermarkets that the cakes and other bakery products it makes were too big.
She said: ‘I’m old enough to remember that when you went into a store and you bought a cake or a croissant, or some other product like that, a bakery product, it was probably half the size of what it is today.’
Diane Abbott, shadow public health minister, said a voluntary approach to obesity was not working
Imran Hussain, head of policy at Child Poverty Action Group, said: 'Obesity, in this country and in other developed countries, is linked to deprivation.
'Rather than blaming parents, ministers should look at the piles and piles of evidence that make it absolutely clear that the real reason why our obesity problem is going to get bigger in the years ahead is because our child poverty problem is going to get much bigger as a result of the Government’s own policies.
'Poor children are much more likely to miss out on healthy food on cost grounds than children living in households with average incomes, and research shows that when the incomes of poor families rise, parents spend the gains on improving the diets of their children through buying fresh fruit.
'With low income families being hurt by stagnating wages, cuts in Government support for the low paid or those out of work and soaring prices, the obesity problem and the pressures on the NHS are likely to worsen.'
Shadow public health minister Diane Abbott said: 'The Government is doing nothing to tackle Britain’s obesity crisis. It is clear that their voluntary approach is not working.
'Too many large retailers aren’t signed up to the Responsibility Deal and ministers have let their expert public health group collapse.
'We need to open our minds to new approaches in tackling child obesity and Labour wants to lead this debate. That is why we have opened a consultation on the possible need for new limits on sugar, fats and salts in children’s food.
'If the Government fails to act we will continue storing up huge problems for the country and the NHS in the long term.'
Rhian Beynon, head of policy and campaigns for the charity Family Action, said: 'The health minister is right to lift the lid on the problems facing low income families in Britain today.
'It is no surprise these families are turning to unhealthy food given food inflation of 35per cent over five years and cuts to financial support for families in and out of work.
'We know from our work that fruit and veg and lean meat and fish are often the first things to go as parents try to balance the family books, pay the bills and heat their homes.
'We agree that family routine is vital to providing a stable home but if the health minister wants to champion healthy eating she should stand up for vulnerable families and insist that they do not bear the brunt of austerity cuts.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2266796/Health-minister-Anna-Soubry-says-obesity-linked-class.html#ixzz2IpoHfzGa
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