Nutrition and public health: facts & stats

64% of adults in England are overweight or obese, rising to over 75% in some towns. (see Public Health England 2014 for this and other data)

Six billion fast food ads appeared on Facebook in 2012 (19% of all fast food advertising). Yale Rudd Center Fast food facts

75% of infant boys and 76% of infant girls in the UK get more calories than they need; in younger babies this is mostly from formula milk, with older infants from solids as well. (DoH report, 2013)

In 2003, the WHO recommended that sugar should be more than 10% of anyone’s diet, reiterated in 2014 with an ambition to cut sugar to 5% of anyone’s diet (i.e. less than a can of coke for an average adult); see BBC report here.

In 2012 the US alcohol industry employed 256 lobbyists, the tobacco industry 174 lobbyists, and the food and beverage industry 327 lobbyists to influence the 553 members of the US Congress (info from OpenSecrets.org, and quoted by IASO Policy Briefing, 2014)

In 2012, 42% men and 32% of women in England were overweight and a further 25% of both men and women were obese.  (National Obesity Observatory, now part of Public Health England)

 

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The Birmingham Food Council is a Community Interest Company registered in England and Wales number 8931789