Weight loss injections such as Mounjaro, which suppresses the appetite, are helping patients across the UK lose weight. However, patients eating only 800 calories a day could eventually pose new problems for the NHS, Westminster Health Forum's latest webinar heard on 11 July. 

The webinar, attended by more than 70 healthcare professionals, examined the latest thinking on the way forward for developing effective weight management, care and prevention strategies.

Dr Ellen Fallows, vice-president at British Society of Lifestyle Medicine and a GP, told delegates: ‘I think there's often a sort of dislike of the concept of food on prescription, and I kind of agree with that, because food is so much more than a medicine, we use it very socially. It is something we use as humans to connect with each other. It has cultural implications and so on.'

Dr Fallows told the webinar that food on prescription is being done in the US by Tufts University's Food as Medicine Institute, which is prescribing food as part of healthcare and insured healthcare policies, and there are lessons that the UK can learn.

She said the UK is already doing this with the NHS Path to Remission programme, which provides people with complete dietary replacement for 12 weeks, which has been shown to have between 30 to 40% rates of remission for type two diabetes as a result of weight loss.

Dr Fallows added: ‘I certainly think it's more likely to be more sustainable in the long term than giving everybody a lifelong medication. So I think policymakers need to look more carefully at the data coming from America in terms of whether this idea of food on prescription is what we're going to need if we can't change our food systems quickly enough, and that specifically will address the issues around food poverty and food insecurity. 

‘But of course, there are much wider issues as well, relating to deprivation, poor, access to green and safe spaces, to be able to be physically active shift work, that tends to be a bigger issue for people from more deprived communities, so that there'll be lots of issues to try and try and address.'

The webinar also heard from Dr Elisa Pineda, research associate at Imperial College London, who discussed policy tools to tackle the obesity crisis, such as taxation and subsidies.

She said: ‘Our options are shaped by what's made accessible, affordable and appealing in marketing. And this isn't just a health issue, it's about fairness and assisted design… Physical tools like health taxes can help reshape the food environment in multiple ways.'

Dr Pineda added that these taxes could be used to generate revenue, which could be invested in public health.

Delegates heard that the World Health Organization has recently recommended an initiative that calls for all countries to increase the price of three commodities - tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks - by 50% at least by 2035. 

Dr Pineda concluded: ‘The policies that we might prioritise in the UK are to strengthen fiscal policies to target not just sugary drinks but also foods high in fat, sugar, salt or ultra processed foods, and also enforce strong marketing restrictions, especially those directed to children, mandating as well food environment regulations with monitoring, and embedding equity driven models such as public grocery stores. 

‘This is an opportunity, not just for better health, but for it to be fair, and more sustainable.'

Lauren Woodley, head of nutrition and sensory science at Nomad Foods – owner of Bird's Eye, Aunt Bessie's and Goodfellas, also told delegates that the food industry is asking for more regulatory certainty. 

‘Clearly, an awful lot has been said over the last five years, and there's been an awful lot of U-turns and delays that makes things very challenging to operate as a food industry and player, and especially as one who tries to be on the front foot of nutrition legislation. We're also asking that the rules of engagement with industry are agreed,' she added.

‘There's an awful lot of noise around the role of industry, we would like there just to be an agreement of exactly how industry should engage.'