The majority of you reading this will have tucked into a quarter pounder Cheeseburger or a Meat and Potato pie on match day, but a top doctor wants that tradition to be a thing of the past.
Chief Medical officer Dame Sally Davies wants major sporting events to only advertise and sell low calorie, low fat, salt and or sugar products.
Davies, who has written an extensive report on how to tackle childhood obesity, also wants to ban eating on public transport and extra taxes placed on unhealthy foods.
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"The unavoidable fact is that over time our environment has become very unhealthy without us realising." she says.
"Our children are now suffering from painful, potentially life-limiting disease. Our politicians need to be bold and help everyone embrace healthier life choices."
The 69-year-old has also warned that we are "nowhere near" solving the issues of childhood obesity.
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Dame Sally believes children are "constantly exposed" to advertising for unhealthy food and drink as companies often use children's cartoon characters and sponsorship of major sporting events to market these items.
Thus casting them as the "shining star in children's minds."
As mentioned earlier, she also recommends that all publicly-funded sporting facilities and major sporting events only advertise and sell low calorie, low fat, salt and or sugar products, and supply free and accessible drinking water.
Which means pies, burgers and other unhealthy snacks before, during and after sporting events are under threat.
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Davies has also put forward the following measures in her report to government:
- Phasing out all marketing, advertising and sponsorship of unhealthy food and drink
- Banning food and drink on local transport with exceptions for water, breast-feeding and medical conditions
- Free water refills to be available at all food outlets, transport stations and public sector buildings
- Regular car-free weekends across the country to encourage physical activity
- Changing planning rules to make it harder to open fast-food takeaways
- Extending the sugar tax to include milk-based drinks
- Adding VAT to unhealthy food products that are currently zero-rated, such as cakes
- Capping calories in food served out-of-the home to combat rising portion sizes
- Consider plain packaging - as for tobacco - for junk food, if firms fail to reduce sugar, fat and salt in their products quickly enough
- All nurseries, registered childminders and schools to adopt water and milk-only policies
Thoughts on the report? Does Dame Sally make any points you agree with?
Let us know in the comments.
Topics: Football News, Football
