Government Urged to Face-Up to Real Cause of Obesity

A letter from Viva Health to Caroline Flint, Public Health Minister calls on the government to withdraw its support for the meat and dairy industries in light of the current obesity epidemic. “Meat and dairy are leading contributors to the national fat intake and the nutrients they do contain can all be obtained from healthier plant-based foods, so therefore it is ludicrous that the government continues to promote both in the midst of an obesity crisis – a policy that clearly isn’t working,” says Viva Health’s health campaigner, Amanda Woodvine. “Two decades of advice to plump for reduced fat meat have proved ineffective – obesity has spiraled in this time. We’re eating more meat – especially poultry – than ever before and the American Cancer Society confirms that the one food most associated with weight gain is meat.”

The letter has been sent to the Department of Health this week, along with a copy of Viva Health’s newly-published scientific report, Globesity. As Viva Health’s Globesity report makes clear, the solution to obesity lies in promoting a plant-based diet. This has the added advantage of reducing the risk of heart disease, strokes, diabetes and some cancers, which can be increased by animal products and are currently at epidemic proportions. Viva Health therefore calls upon the government to improve the nation’s health by offering advice that works rather than persisting with a public health policy that has so dismally failed.

For further information contact Amanda Woodvine on 0117 970 5190 or visit www.vegetarian.org.uk to read the Globesity report.

The Right Honourable Caroline Flint MP Minister of State for Public Health Department of Health Richmond House 79 Whitehall London SW1A 2NS 15 January 2007 Dear Caroline Flint Enclosed is a copy of the newly-published Globesity scientific report by Viva Health which reviews the wealth of research linking meat and dairy products with obesity. The conclusions are clear: meat and dairy products make a significant contribution to obesity and other degenerative diseases – including coronary heart disease, strokes and some cancers – which are at epidemic proportions in Britain. May I invite your comment on certain key points from the report, please: Researchers at the American Cancer Society followed more than 75,000 people for a decade to find out which behaviours were most associated with weight loss and which with weight gain.

The one dietary behaviour most associated with an increasing waistline was high meat consumption. Even after controlling for other factors, men and women who ate more than a single serving of meat per day were 50 per cent more likely to suffer an increase in abdominal obesity than those eating meat just a few times per week. Meat products were identified as a leading source (28 per cent) of dietary fat, mainly saturated, in the early 1980s. Despite nutritional advice encouraging us to opt for leaner cuts of meat, the latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey reports that meat and meat products are still the main source of total dietary fat, providing around a quarter (23 per cent) of the average national dietary fat intake. This means that two decades of advice encouraging us to opt for leaner cuts of meat has not worked – a mere five per cent reduction in our total fat intake from meat has been observed during this time. We are eating more meat – especially poultry – than ever before. Cow’s milk and dairy products play a significant role, too: A recent study involving 12,000 children over a three-year-period found that those who drank the most milk gained the most weight. A major review of recent scientific studies on calcium and bone health has shown that children do not need cow’s milk for good bone health. Considering this, it is extraordinary that milk is still being promoted so forcefully to children and adolescents.

There is no health reason to support this so the conclusion has to be that the decision is commercial. Numerous studies show that vegetarians are leaner than meat eaters (weighing between six pounds and two stones less). Most overweight people shed pounds when they change to a vegetarian diet. Most importantly, losing weight this way is consistent with long-term health. Vegetarians enjoy lower rates of diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers. Research comparing omnivore and vegetarian children found vegetarian children had lower intakes of total and saturated fat, cholesterol and sodiumand higher intakes of beneficial nutrients such as potassium and vitamins beta-carotene, C and E and fibre. There are no nutrients in meat and dairy which cannot be obtained elsewhere. On behalf of the Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation and all those associated with this report, I call on the Department of Health to: Withdraw its support for the Food Standards Agency’s Balance of Good Health which promotes meat, fish, milk and dairy – in favour of the healthier New Four Food Groups – fruits, legumes, whole grains and vegetables. Revise its new weight loss guide Your Weight, Your Health, to cease the promotion of “leaner’ cuts of meat and reduced-fat dairy; Stop its promotion of meat, milk and dairy products; Issue health warnings about the diseases linked to them; Advise parents to stop giving cow’s milk formula, replacing it with soya milk formula if the baby cannot be breast fed and to advise that children obtain calcium from plant sources. We are also calling on the government to: Stop subsidising the provision of milk in primary schools; Stop EU subsidies to dairy farmers and channel this funding into the organic growth and promotion of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, pulses, nuts, seeds; End the statutory levy on milk which funds the Milk Development Council (MDC); End its support of the MDC; End its support of the Butter for Manufacture scheme which give subsidies to food manufacturers to encourage them to use surplus butterfat instead of healthier vegetable oils in various food products. In conclusion, while we commend the government’s efforts to promote fruit and vegetable consumption and to invest more in promoting health in nutrition, we would ask that the consumption of meat and dairy – even reduced fat versions – is no longer encouraged. This report provides the framework for a revision of public health policy and we would all urge the minister to supply the political will to accompany it. We look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely Amanda Woodvine Health Campaigner, Viva Health

About the author
Dr. Justine Butler
Justine joined Viva! in 2005 after graduating from Bristol University with a PhD in molecular biology. After working as a campaigner, then researcher and writer, she is now Viva!’s head of research and her work focuses on animals, the environment and health. Justine’s scientific training helps her research and write both in-depth scientific reports, such as White Lies and the Meat Report, as well as easy-to-read factsheets and myth-busting articles for consumer magazines and updates on the latest research. Justine also recently wrote the Vegan for the Planet guide for Viva!’s Vegan Now campaign.

View author page | View staff profile