The GLP-1 receptor agonists — a substance that mimics the actions of a neurotransmitter — have ‘all the makings of one of the most successful classes of drugs in history’.

As they become cheaper and easier to use, potentially moving to pills instead of injections, they promise to improve the lives of billions of people.

With over two-fifths of the world overweight or obese, the demand for GLP-1 drugs is insatiable.

But we can’t drug our way out of a broken food system.

As countries continue to shift towards a diet subsumed by processed foods, the pressure is off the food industry to move the dial from shareholder profit to health.

If obesity can be treated with a pill, why worry about the food industry that caused it?

Despite the successes of obesity treatments, the UK has turned up the pressure to fix a broken food system while Ireland continues to flounder.

A UK House of Lords committee has called for a total ban on the advertising of unhealthy foods across all physical and digital media, as part of a comprehensive strategy to turn the tide on the “obesity public health emergency”.

The UK government recently announced that a 9pm watershed for television advertising of unhealthy food and drink, and a total ban on paid for online advertising, will come into force on October 1, 2025.

The previous Conservative government first promised to implement such a ban, but the measures were predictably delayed.

In September, 10 UK city areas announced they will ban advertising on public transport following a similar move already introduced in London.

What is Ireland doing in this space?

Obfuscating, delaying, and transferring responsibility while achieving precisely nothing.

Regulation of marketing of foods high in fat, sugar, and salt

The media regulator, Comisiún na Meán, is considering the regulation of marketing of foods high in fat, sugar, and salt. It remains to be seen what recommendations will emerge.

The UK House of Lords committee suggests while a total ban on online advertising is welcome, it does not go far enough. 

It calls for a ban on advertising of food and drinks that are high in calories, fat, salt and sugar across all physical and digital media, as well as a ban on advertising by businesses that fail to reach mandatory health targets.

“This should be initiated no later than October 2026 with a total ban by the end of this parliament,” the UK committee said.

“As part of this, the government should ban the sponsorship of sports events by, and celebratory endorsements of, large food businesses that fail to reach mandatory health targets.”

The committee’s report, ‘Recipe for Health: a plan to fix our broken food system’, says there has been an utter failure to tackle the obesity crisis by successive governments, with nearly 700 policies in England between 1992 and 2020 which have produced minimal effect.

Joan Walmsley, chair of the committee, said: “This failure is largely because of policies that focused on personal choice out of misguided fears of the ‘nanny state’. Both the government and the food industry must take responsibility for what has gone wrong and take urgent steps to put it right.”

We urge the government to look favourably on our plan to fix our broken food system and accept that it is not only cost-effective but that it would lead to a lot less human misery.

The report calls on the government to publish a comprehensive and integrated food strategy that includes mandatory regulation.

It states that voluntary efforts to promote healthier food have failed, as the industry has strong incentives to produce and sell highly profitable unhealthy foods, whereas the soft drinks levy led to a reduction of more than a third in the sugar content of soft drinks in just four years.

The recommendations in the UK report include:

• Giving the Food Standards Agency independent oversight of the food system with responsibility for reporting to parliament on progress against targets;
• Introducing a salt and sugar reformulation tax on food manufacturers;
• Further research on the link between ultra-processed food and adverse health outcomes and reviewing dietary guidelines to reflect new evidence;
• Developing a strategy for maternal and infant nutrition and driving up compliance with school food standards.

Here in Ireland, obesity is now a public health emergency.

Almost one in four (23%) adults are obese and a third (37%) are overweight.

Among those aged 65 and older, almost three quarters (75%) are overweight or living with obesity while our hospitals are overflowing with people suffering with the complications of obesity that include heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

20% of children are overweight or obese

One in five children are living with the problems of being overweight or obese.

This data is an appalling indictment of successive governments that allowed the food and transport industries to transform, in three decades, the way we eat, the way we move around, and the societal response to stress with cheap comfort food.

The UK government appear to have seen the light. It has come up with a series of proposals that can form a template for similar steps to fix a broken food system in Ireland. 

The first step is to develop a National Food Strategy that would include:

• A ban on the marketing of unhealthy food on all digital and physical infrastructure;
• A salt and sugar reformulation tax on junk food with revenue directed towards making healthy food accessible and affordable to low-income groups;
• Research on the link between ultra-processed foods and adverse health outcomes followed by a review of dietary guidelines to align with evidence of ultra-processed food as damaging to health;
• Ensuring free school meals comply with food standards specifically drawn up to align with these principles.

Obesity in Ireland has reached the point where it is a public health emergency. Food marketing continues to change attitudes to food — what to eat and what our preferences are. It changes what children ask their parents to buy.

The UK government and city councils are knocking down these barriers one by one; is the Irish government up to the challenge?

• Dr Catherine Conlon is a public health doctor in Cork and former director of human health and nutrition, safefood