Leeds experts create 'revolutionary' new strategy to bring down UK obesity
Leeds Beckett University are behind the plans
Experts in Leeds say they've got a groundbreaking new way to help the UK get a grip of spiralling rates of obesity
Academics at Leeds Beckett University have come up with a national strategy for Public Heath England that they say's a "turning point" in tackling the problem.
They're working organisations like councils, schools, the NHS and businesses to try and control a number of factors that lead to obesity.
Professor Paul Gately says it's groundbreaking:
"It doesn't just look at the single solutions to solve the problem. And that's why for many many millions of people out there, the diet plan that they start every year fail miserably within a few weeks or a few months because they're not considering or not in control of all the different influences on their weight.
"This is more about thinking of the different layers and the different influences of the world around those individuals. It's about supporting the individuals but it's about working with people like local government and the NHS, food retailers, food manufacturers and all different stakeholders to come together to create a common plan."
Experts in Leeds have worked for 4 years on the plan alongside organisations like the NHS and the Local Government Association.
It involves coming up with different solutions for different areas across the UK.
It comes after research revealed our city was the first in the UK to start bringing down rates of childhood obesity.
Paul says Leeds is well-placed to lead the way in the area:
"Leeds is a real leader in the area of obesity - we've got some real expertise in Leeds in our universities, we've got real expertise in our health system and in our local government systems. Really it's about harnessing that further and having wider impacts on our population.
"There are over 120 different factors that drive obesity and those different factors are connected in over 300 different ways. When we've got a population as diverse as we have here in the UK we need to consider the differences between areas like Bradford, Manchester as well as Devon and so on and so forth."