More than 60 health organisations have warned the government not to dilute planned food policy reforms, arguing that doing so would undermine its ambition to shift the NHS from treating illness to preventing it.
In an open letter to chancellor Rachel Reeves, coordinated by the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA), a coalition of 64 charities, medical royal colleges, healthcare professionals and campaign groups called on ministers to press ahead with measures designed to improve the nation's diet and tackle rising obesity levels.
The intervention comes amid concerns that key policies could be delayed or weakened, including plans to introduce a Healthy Food Standard requiring large food businesses to report on and improve the healthiness of their sales, and the application of an updated Nutrient Profiling Model to advertising and promotion restrictions.
The coalition warned that any retreat from these measures would jeopardise the central goal of the government's NHS 10-Year Health Plan, which aims to shift healthcare from "sickness to prevention".
Among their demands are a formal consultation on mandatory health reporting before Parliament's summer recess, legislation introducing a Healthy Food Standard during this Parliament, and the implementation of updated nutrient profiling rules for food promotions and advertising.
The organisations argued that public health policies should not be framed as being in conflict with efforts to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.
Their concerns come a day after the Food Foundation's latest Broken Plate report found that households with children in the lowest income bracket would need to spend 85 per cent of their disposable income to afford a healthy diet. The report also highlighted that the price gap between healthier and less healthy food is now at its widest level in more than a decade.
Katharine Jenner, executive director of the Obesity Health Alliance, said: "The government's prevention moonshot risks failing before launch if the very policies needed to deliver it are watered down before they even begin.
"Families are under huge financial pressure, but blaming health regulation for rising food prices is a distraction. There is no evidence these measures would push up prices – and no evidence that scrapping them would make food cheaper."
The coalition pointed to government analysis suggesting that applying the updated Nutrient Profiling Model could generate £36.9 billion in health and economic benefits over 25 years, including preventing 110,000 cases of childhood obesity and 520,000 cases of adult obesity. The proposed Healthy Food Standard is estimated to deliver around £17bn in annual savings to society, including £2bn a year for the NHS.
The organisations also highlighted growing health concerns, noting that more than 6,000 children were treated at specialist obesity clinics in England last year. They warned that poor diet continues to contribute to obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, some cancers and widening health inequalities.
Anna Taylor, executive director of The Food Foundation, said delaying planned reforms would do little to improve food affordability.
"Stalling the policies on mandatory reporting of healthy sales and the updated nutrient profiling model isn't going to address people's ability to access and afford healthy food," she said. "It'll only exacerbate health and dietary inequalities and put further pressure on the NHS."
Professor David Strain, chair of the British Medical Association's Board of Science, added that while new obesity treatments have a role to play, "no healthcare system can treat its way out of an epidemic driven by the environments in which people live, work and learn".
The coalition said ministers now face a critical test of whether prevention remains at the heart of health policy, warning that further delays could lead to higher healthcare costs and poorer health outcomes in the years ahead.