The Food Programme
BBC Radio 4
Categories: Arts
Listen to the last episode:
Amsterdam and Leeds are two of the only places in the world to have cut rates of childhood obesity — and they’ve not done it by focussing just on diet. Sheila Dillon finds out how these two locally-based policies worked, and why the political circumstances around them were just as important as the policies themselves. She speaks to parents, academics, policy experts and public health leaders to find out what we can learn from these two remarkable interventions.
In Leeds, the local authority has prioritised health in the early years over the last 20 years, and part of that is working with the charity HENRY (Health, Exercise and Nutrition for the Really Young). HENRY has trained council staff to deliver courses helping parents to teach their kids healthy eating right from the start. In 2019 Leeds made national headlines becoming the first city in the UK to see a small, but significant drop in childhood obesity, and a bigger drop of 10% in the most deprived areas. The data shows that overall between 2009 and 2017 obesity dropped from 9.4% to 8.8% in four-to-five year olds, while levels remained unchanged in similar cities.
When it comes to improving children’s health, Amsterdam’s Healthy Weight Program attracted a lot of interest from around the world, becoming the shining example of what can be done to tackle high levels of obesity though action on a city-level. The Program’s main principle was ‘the healthy choice should be the easy choice’, aiming to reduce childhood obesity through healthy food and drink, exercise and better quality sleep. From 2012 to 2015 the percentage of children who were overweight or obese went down 12%, from 21% to 18.5%, with the biggest fall amongst the lowest socio-economic groups.
In the programme we hear from: Alice Wiseman, Joint Director of Public Health for Gateshead and Newcastle, and Vice President of The Association of Directors of Public Health; Dr Dolly Van Tulleken, policy consultant and visiting researcher at the MCR Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge; Jaap Seidell, Professor of Nutrition and Health at The Free University in Amsterdam; and Kim Roberts, Chief Executive of the HENRY charity.
Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol
Previous episodes
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1340 - Lessons from Leeds and Amsterdam on childhood obesity Fri, 03 May 2024
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1339 - The secrets of sport food Fri, 26 Apr 2024
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1338 - Brexit's Import Controls Fri, 19 Apr 2024
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1337 - A Celebration of the Birthday Cake Fri, 12 Apr 2024
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1336 - Music and Food: Sounds Delicious! Sun, 29 Jul 2018
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1335 - Richard Corrigan: A Life Through Food Sun, 22 Jul 2018
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1334 - Birmingham's Beloved Balti Sun, 15 Jul 2018
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1333 - Cycling and Food: Fuelling the Peloton Sun, 08 Jul 2018
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1332 - Unedited: Sheila Dillon's interview with Prof. Louis Levy of Public Health England Tue, 03 Jul 2018
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1331 - The Eatwell Guide Mon, 02 Jul 2018
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1330 - What's Eating The Restaurant Trade? Sun, 24 Jun 2018
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1329 - BBC Food and Farming Awards 2018: Second Course Tue, 19 Jun 2018
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1328 - BBC Food and Farming Awards 2018: First Course Tue, 19 Jun 2018
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1327 - Street Food 2018 Mon, 11 Jun 2018
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1326 - The Mothership of Brewing: Beer and the Belgians Sun, 03 Jun 2018
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1325 - Life-changing Food Fri, 01 Jun 2018
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1324 - Food Stories From Syria (3) Sun, 20 May 2018
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1323 - Japanese Whisky: A Beginners Guide Mon, 14 May 2018
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1322 - The BBC Food & Farming Awards 2018: Finalist stories Mon, 30 Apr 2018
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1321 - Is There a Place for Salt? Sun, 22 Apr 2018
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1320 - Northern Ireland: Food at a Crossroads Sun, 15 Apr 2018
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1319 - The Sugar Tax: A (Short) History Sun, 15 Apr 2018
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1318 - The Power of Food: Parabere Forum Sun, 01 Apr 2018
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1317 - Doctor's Orders: Getting Tomorrow's Medics Cooking Sun, 25 Mar 2018
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1316 - The Future of Bread Mon, 19 Mar 2018
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1315 - African Food Sun, 11 Mar 2018
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1314 - Eat to Run, Part 3 Fri, 09 Mar 2018
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1313 - The Big Pig Roadtrip Sun, 04 Mar 2018
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1312 - Comfort food for dark days Sun, 18 Feb 2018
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1311 - The Vegetable Yoda: Charlie Hicks Sun, 11 Feb 2018
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1310 - The World Service Cookbook Sun, 04 Feb 2018
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1309 - Britain's Secret Saffron Story Sun, 28 Jan 2018
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1308 - What Delicious Future? Sun, 21 Jan 2018
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1307 - The BBC Food & Farming Awards 2018: The Search Begins... Sun, 14 Jan 2018
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1306 - Porridge Sun, 07 Jan 2018
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1305 - The Champagne Underground Sun, 31 Dec 2017
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1304 - Sheila Dillon's Christmas Dinner Sun, 24 Dec 2017
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1303 - The World's Most Popular Cheese: The Story of Cheddar Mon, 18 Dec 2017
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1302 - Crisps Sun, 10 Dec 2017
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1301 - Cookbooks of 2017 Sun, 03 Dec 2017
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1300 - Food on the Edge (A Food Story Mix-Tape) Mon, 27 Nov 2017
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1299 - Young and Vegan Sun, 19 Nov 2017
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1298 - Catalonia Mon, 13 Nov 2017
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1297 - The Art of Fermentation - A Masterclass Sat, 04 Nov 2017
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1296 - More Problems with Poultry? Mon, 30 Oct 2017
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1295 - How We Eat: 4. Eating as a Family Mon, 23 Oct 2017
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1294 - How We Eat: 3. Eating By The Rules Mon, 16 Oct 2017
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1293 - How We Eat: 2. Eating with Strangers Mon, 09 Oct 2017
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1292 - How We Eat: 1. Eating Alone Mon, 02 Oct 2017
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1291 - The BBC Food & Farming Awards 2017 Tue, 26 Sep 2017