London, June 29 (PTI) The UK on Sunday unveiled a so-called healthy food revolution that will see the government strike partnerships with industry to nudge people towards making better choices and pack their shopping baskets with healthier foods to tackle growing obesity rates.

According to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), obesity has doubled in the UK since the 1990s and costs the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) GBP 11 billion a year as one of the leading causes of sickness and disease.

“Food retailers and manufacturers will ‘make the healthy choice the easy choice’ in a world-first partnership between government and industry to tackle the obesity epidemic and ease pressure on the NHS,” DHSC said.

The move forms part of the department’s forthcoming 10-Year Health Plan and will see large retailers including supermarkets given the freedom to meet a new healthier standard – whether that’s reformulating products and tweaking recipes, changing shop layouts, offering discounts on healthy foods, or changing loyalty schemes to promote healthier options.

Public health experts in Britain believe cutting the calorie count of a daily diet by just 50 calories would lift 340,000 children and 2 million adults out of obesity.

“The good news is that it only takes a small change to make a big difference. If everyone who is overweight reduced their calorie intake by around 200 calories a day – the equivalent of a bottle of fizzy drink – obesity would be halved,” said Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

“Through our new healthy food standard, we will make the healthy choice the easy choice, because prevention is better than cure,” he said.

His department highlighted that obesity, which has doubled in England since the 1990s, is one of the root causes of diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

A new report by the country’s Chief Medical Officer is set to reveal that more than one in five children are living with obesity by the time they leave primary school, rising to almost one in three in areas with higher levels of poverty and deprivation.

“Britain has some of the best farmers, growers, food manufacturers and retailers in the world, which means we have more choice than ever before on our shelves,” said Environment Secretary Steve Reed.

“It is vital for the nation that the food industry delivers healthy food that is available, affordable and appealing. Our food strategy will bring together the health plan, food producers and retailers to make sure we can feed the nation more healthily while growing the economic success of our food sector,” he said.

The policy will see all big food businesses report on healthy food sales, as a means of "full transparency and accountability" around the food that businesses are selling and encourage healthier products.

The government will then set targets to increase the healthiness of sales in communities across the UK and work with the Food Strategy Advisory Board (FSAB) on the sequencing of this policy.

Sarah Price, NHS England Director for Public Health, said: “A healthy diet, which includes a variety of nutritious food, can help people stay well and provide long-term health benefits, which is good for them and good for the NHS.

“That is why this move to make it easier for people to shop for healthy and nutritious food options is so important – it will help people reduce the risk of developing a range of life-altering physical conditions, such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes – both of which are on the increase in England.” DHSC said many supermarkets want to do more to make the average shopping basket healthier, but they risk changes hitting their bottom lines if their competitors don’t act at the same time. The new standard will introduce a level playing field, so there isn’t a first mover disadvantage, it stressed. PTI AK SCY SCY