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Implementing the Whole Systems Approach to Obesity
Tackling obesity is everyone’s business – there is no single individual, group or organisation that can do this alone.
Alison Tedstone
Dr Alison Tedstone is National Director with responsibility of diet, nutrition and obesity in the Health and Wellbeing Directorate of Public Health England (PHE). Her teams work areas include the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, nutrient composition of foods, scientific advice on nutrition (including the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition), and messaging on nutrition and health issues. They also coordinate a cross PHE a programme of work aimed at tackling the nations obesity problem which supports national and local level delivery, including actions aimed at improving systems leadership and addressing the environmental causes obesity.
Alison transferred with the other nutrition colleagues from the Department of Health in April 2013 and before that from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2010. Before joining the FSA, in 2001, she was an academic at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has a BSc and PhD from London University. She completed post doctorate research in Oxford. She is on the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists held by the Association for Nutrition as a Registered Nutritionist (public health) and as a Fellow.
Putting healthier food environments at the heart of planning
Our local surroundings have a large impact on us and we live in an environment that can inadvertently encourage unhealthy behaviours – eating more and exercising less.
Sugar reduction: What about the drinks not included in the Soft Drinks Industry Levy?
Children are currently consuming more than double the recommended daily intake of sugar. Consuming too much sugar is among the main causes of too many children leaving primary school overweight or obese and suffering with tooth decay. Whilst much of the …
The world’s first sugar reduction programme: Data challenges
Childhood obesity is a national crisis and a leading cause of ill health and premature death – in England, one in three children are overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school. Obese or overweight children are more …
Why we are working to reduce calorie intake
In England, more than a third of children are overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school, which means they are more likely to be bullied, face stigma and suffer low self-esteem. They are also more likely to …
An update on sugar reduction
On World Diabetes Day, we reflect on some successful work to transform some of the food and drink we buy and consume as the programme gains further momentum.
Clearing up confusion caused by flip-flopping diet news
As Public Health England’s chief nutritionist, I’m often asked what we’re doing about confusing messages in the media about nutrition, which lead to an incorrect assumption that official advice is always changing.
Expert interview: New guidelines for industry on the sugar reduction programme
As part of our sugar reduction programme we’ve published new guidelines for the food industry demonstrating how they can remove 20% of the sugar in nine categories of food which contribute the most to children’s intakes.
Local systems thinking: Making obesity everyone’s business
In late 2015 I wrote about a new programme that aims to explore local systems and design new approaches to prevent and tackle obesity.
Childhood obesity: 4 important developments
As 2016 draws to a close it’s a good time to round up some recent developments in the battle against childhood obesity.