Overweight people to receive shopping vouchers and Fitbits to help them shed pounds

Overweight people could be given discounted supermarket vouchers and prescribed Fitbits under new plans to tackle the obesity crisis.

Boris Johnson has pledged to help the country slim down after admitting his own struggles with Covid-19 were down to the fact he was ‘too fat’.

Ministers are looking for new schemes to encourage people to eat better and get more exercise and have drafted in the man behind Airmiles and Nectar points to help.

Sir Keith Mills hopes a scheme to encourage shoppers to buy more healthy food and save money in the process could help change the country’s eating habits.

He will advise on a £6m pilot scheme set to be launched in January that could be rolled out nationwide if it’s a success. 

Health officials are also looking at using smart technology and other novel schemes that were a success abroad, The Telegraph reports.

A 2019 health survey found 28% of adults in England are obese and a further 36.2% are classed as overweight. 

More than a fifth of children are deemed obese by the time they leave primary school.

The Covid-19 pandemic has put the nation’s bulging waistline in the spotlight and has been put forward as a possible explanation for the country’s high mortality rates.

The World Health Organisation classes obesity as a Covid-19 ‘risk factor’ and a March 2020 study published in the British Medical Journal found a link between weight and coronavirus-related deaths.

Researchers found ‘the UK has the third highest death rate globally…and the fourth highest prevalence’ of overweight people while Vietnam had the lowest death rate and second lowest level of people who weight too much.

Sir Keith Mills told the paper: ‘The Health Incentives scheme could be a vital tool in the government’s plans to tackle health inequalities and encourage healthier behaviours. 

‘This is a fantastic opportunity for businesses, the public and third sectors to come together and deliver a new and exciting way of supporting people to healthier habits. 

‘This is why we are calling for interested partners to come forward with their innovative ideas and help play a pivotal part in the government’s plans to improve public health.’

Jo Churchill, the public health minister, said the scheme could ‘help us understand the role that rewards and incentives could play in helping people lead healthy lives’.

Speaking three months after he was released from intensive care, Mr Johnson pledged to tackle obesity and said he blamed his own weight as the reason Covid-19 left him so seriously ill.

Announcing a new drive to tackle obesity, the Prime Minister admitted that ‘like many people I struggle with my weight, I go up and down’ and said he was ‘way overweight’ when he contracted the virus.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.