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Mandatory Front-of-Pack Warnings Could Prevent 110,000 Obesity-Related Deaths in England, Study Finds

England currently relies on voluntary front-of-pack labelling despite mandatory warning schemes in Chile, Mexico and Canada.

Overview

  • University of Liverpool modelling published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe estimates nutrient warnings would cut obesity prevalence by 4.44 percentage points between 2024 and 2043.
  • The study projects about 110,000 obesity-related deaths could be avoided with mandatory nutrient warning labels on foods high in fat, salt or sugar.
  • A mandated traffic-light system is estimated to reduce obesity by 2.34 percentage points and prevent or postpone roughly 57,000 deaths over the same period.
  • Researchers urge the UK Government to consider nutrient warnings, arguing simple, prominent labels help consumers and encourage product reformulation.
  • The British Retail Consortium says supermarkets already provide nutrition information and widely use traffic-light labels, and no formal government response was reported.