NHS 10-Year Plan’s focus on prevention welcomed - but action must match ambition

Fuse researchers have welcomed plans to tackle obesity, improve the food environment and ban the sale of energy drinks to children, but caution that long-term structural change is needed to deliver a healthier, fairer future.

In Fit for the Future: The 10 Year Health Plan for England the government has launched what it calls a 'moonshot to end the obesity epidemic' and unveiled a series of measures on both treatment and prevention of obesity.

What’s in the plan?

The plan recommits to key manifesto promises, including:

• Banning the sale of energy drinks to children
• Restricting junk food advertising to children
• Limiting new hot food takeaway outlets
• Creating a Smokefree Generation

It also reiterates previous pledges to:

• Extend the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (to include milk-based drinks and/or review thresholds)
• Expand access to free school meals
• Review and strengthen the School Food Standards
• Implement restrictions on multi-buy promotions from 1 October 2025

New announcements include:

• Introducing Healthy Food Standards (mandatory reporting and mandatory targets) 
• A 10% increase in the value of Healthy Start vouchers
• Updating existing marketing rules using the new Nutrient Profile Model
• Doubling access to the Digital Weight Management Programme

Other measures include proposals for nutrition and health warnings on alcohol, an incentives scheme, and a public physical activity campaign.

Banning the sale of energy drinks to children

Restrictions on the sale of energy drinks to under-16s would be welcomed by a Fuse academic who has long warned about their harmful effects on children.

Professor Amelia Lake - Deputy Director of Fuse, and Professor of Public Health Nutrition at Teesside University, said:

"It is reassuring to see this 10-year plan moving in the right direction. We must put people and communities at the centre of efforts to address the challenging environments that shape our health.

"We welcomed the announcement in the King’s Speech last year to ban the sale of energy drinks to under-16s, and we now look forward to seeing meaningful government action to fulfil this manifesto commitment.

"Creating a healthier food environment is essential to enabling people to make nutritious, affordable choices. While the plan’s focus on planning legislation is a step forward, it’s crucial that government also addresses the rapidly evolving digital food environment, which demands further research and targeted action at both local and national levels.

"Obesity is a complex issue that must be understood within the broader context of health inequalities. The government must adopt upstream, preventative approaches to ensure everyone has equitable access to healthy, nutritious food."

Find out more

Fuse’s energy drink research activity and impact can be found here in this timeline. This research has been summarised in the following:

• Podcast: Should we be concerned about energy drinks and young people’s health?
• Policy brief: Evidence shows wider range of risks associated with energy drinks in children
• Blog post: Energy drinks may be commercially lucrative but what is more valuable than the health of our children?

Fuse Research Associate, Professor Nicola Heslehurst is Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition at Newcastle University, and President of the Association for the Study of Obesity. Her research focuses on inequalities in maternal and child nutrition, particularly during pregnancy, and how improvements to routine care and support can enhance the health of women and their children.

Professor Heslehurst, said:

"The 10-Year Health Plan sets out some promising steps, including the long-overdue update to the Nutrient Profiling Model, transparent reporting and mandatory health targets for large food companies, strengthened school food standards, and an uplift to the Healthy Start scheme. If implemented with ambition and protected from commercial pressure, these policies could contribute to a healthier, fairer future.

"But progress on obesity will not be achieved through incentive apps and awareness campaigns alone. Obesity is a complex, chronic condition shaped by systems, not individual choices. We are concerned by signals that key protections, like promotion restrictions, could be repealed before the food system has meaningfully changed.

"ASO welcomes the Government’s renewed commitment to prevention but urges Ministers to prioritise long-term structural change, not short-term optics. We stand ready to support delivery through the collective expertise of our research, clinical, and professional community."

Adapted with thanks to the Obesity Health Alliance

Last modified: Fri, 04 Jul 2025 17:01:54 BST