Rishi Sunak today roundly dismissed a warning from the UK’s food tsar that bringing cake to work is like smoking among colleagues.
Downing Street insisted Sunak was committed to “personal choice”, revealing he is personally “very partial” to carrot cake.
Attendees underlined the message by bringing cupcakes to journalists at a briefing after the weekly PMQ session.
The bullish stance came after Professor Susan Jebb, chair of the Food Standards Agency, compared office cakes to passive smoking.
Professor Jebb, who teaches diet and population health at the University of Oxford, said the times: ‘If no one brought cakes to the office, I wouldn’t eat them during the day, but since people bring cakes, I eat them.
Professor Susan Jebb, chair of the Food Standards Agency, says bringing cake to work is as harmful to colleagues as passive smoking.
The professor said, “If no one brought cakes to the office, I wouldn’t eat them during the day.”
WHAT SHOULD A BALANCED DIET LOOK LIKE?
Meals should be based on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally whole grains, according to the NHS.
• Eat at least 5 servings of a variety of fruits and vegetables every day. All fresh, frozen, dried, and canned fruits and vegetables count
• Base meals are based on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, ideally whole grains.
• 30 grams of fiber per day: This is equivalent to eating all of the following: 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, 2 whole grain crackers, 2 thick slices of whole wheat bread, and one large baked potato with skin.
• Eat some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soy drinks) by choosing low-fat, low-sugar options.
• Eat some beans, legumes, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins (including 2 servings of fish each week, one of which should be fatty).
• Choose unsaturated oils and spreads and consume them in small quantities
• Drink 6 to 8 cups/glasses of water a day
• Adults should consume less than 6 g of salt and 20 g of saturated fat for women or 30 g for men per day.
Fountain: NHS Eatwell Guide
“Now, okay, I’ve made a decision, but people were making a decision to go to a smoky pub.”
He added: “With smoking, after a long time, we have reached a point where we understand that people have to make some effort, but that we can make their efforts more successful if we have a supportive environment.”
“But we still don’t feel the same way about food.”
He concluded that passive smoking causes harm to others “and exactly the same goes for food.”
Professor Jebb has also pushed for doctors to be more open to approaching patients about their weight and offering help with diet.
He criticized many for currently refraining from discussing the issue.
Professor Jebb, a former government adviser on obesity, also criticized the government for delaying a ban on junk food advertising, which she said is “undermining people’s free will” to eat vegetables.
“Advertising means that companies with the most money have the most influence on people’s behavior,” he said.
‘It’s not fair. Currently we allow advertising for commercial purposes without any type of health control and we have ended up with a complete market failure because what is advertised is chocolate and not cauliflower.’
He also insisted that obesity in the UK could be treated, saying “fairly cheap interventions” such as weight management programs would help.
It comes as Lord Rose of Monewden, chairman of Asda, told the Times Health Commission on Monday that workplaces must do more for employee health.
He asked: “Why don’t we push to say that also in that process as employers we have a legal obligation to do something about the health of our employees?”
Currently, two-thirds of adults in the UK are overweight, a figure that has doubled in the last 30 years.
Treating obesity-related diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and various cancers is estimated to cost the NHS £6 billion a year.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared war on the country’s waistline in 2020, abandoning his previous aversion to nanny state-style nutrition policies, after his own weight exacerbated his Covid infection.
But last year the Government backtracked on several plans, delaying a ban on buy-one-get-one-free junk food deals and a 9pm tipping point on sugary snacks for at least a year in a bid to help the poorest families with their food bills.
And last month, Health Secretary Steve Barclay delayed the advertising ban until 2025.
He resists the bans and instead wants “more positive ways to promote healthy living.”
Meanwhile, Professor Jebb wants to introduce cost-effective interventions that “deliver huge benefits”, including NHS weight management programmes.
Professor Jebb also criticized the government for delaying a ban on junk food advertising amid rising obesity in the UK.
Speaking today, Professor Jebb added: ‘I want to make it very clear that the views expressed in the Times article are not those of the FSA Board nor do they reflect current or planned FSA policy in any way.
‘I agreed to join the Health Commission in my role as an academic and the comments were made in a conversation with The Times and in a discussion with other members of the Health Commission panel.
“As the Times article notes, I made the comments in my personal capacity and any representation of them as the FSA’s current position or policy is misleading and inaccurate.”