SInce the population is growing more obese : and obese patients are much unhealtheir... doctors have a logical stance.

When money is limited, you cannot finance an unlimited demand for medical services caused by an ageing and fatter population.

SImple arithmetic.

As for the NHS efficiency...well that's an oxymoron.

(Bit unkind: they are good at killing patients)

Edited by madf on 20/02/2013 at 14:05

I'd agree with madf that something needs to be done. Just not clear how this proposal even begins to cut the mustard.

Why does 'something have to be done'? You're making the common mistake of looking at gross costs, not net costs. Healthy people live longer. Unfortunately virtually all those extra years are pensionable years.

-Healthy people are a greater pension burden but do not wish to have longer working lives than unhealthy people

-Healthy people simply take longer to get ill. They have a similar chance of dying of cancer as their unhalthy counterparts

-Healthy people have a much greater chance of contracting chronic geriatric illnsses which are expensive to treat.

Healthy people are the reason that the pension system in this country has collapsed. . Longevity is is great for the individual but dreadful for society as a whole. This is the harsh economic reality that people do not want to face.

I don't believe for a minute that obesity can be seen as cost neutral.

Maybe not but quoting The Guardian hardly lends your view credibility. What we do know is keeping people alive much longer than we can afford to is a massive problem. On Monday we get told everybody is obese, unhealthy and - in typical hysterical fashion - something must be done! Yet on Tuesday we get told we're living too long, the ageing population is our biggest challenge and we can't afford the pensions.

Which is it?

Well that's not possible. Either we're all going to die early with a Snickers stuck in our throat or we're going to live too long and be a drain on resources. You can't have it both ways.

Taxing alcohol and cigarettes hasn't stopped us drinking or smoking so why do you - or the doctors - think a 'fizzy drink tax' would do anything?

I don't agree with the hysterical mindset that something must be done and even if I did, I wouldn't believe Government could achieve it with yet more nanny state, central planning gerrymandering from their glass house.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Government go away! We can decide what we want to eat/drink by ourselves thank you very much.

All of which pales into insignificance compared to the 1 million people who will have dementia in the UK by 2025.

Whether processed food is good or bad for you depends on what ingrediants are being processed.