The government has quietly abandoned its target to halt childhood obesity by 2010, setting instead the goal of reducing it by 2020 - a decade further on.
The move comes in response to the Foresight report, which concluded that the obesity problem was enormous and could takes 30 years to turn around, costing the UK £45bn a year.
While it was acknowledged the government target was ambitious when it was set in 2004, many critics say that to take the pressure off by allowing the childhood obesity goal to slip by 10 years is unwise.
The British Heart Foundation said the report was an echo of alarm bells that have been ringing for more than 30 years. "Repeated reports like this, which should have had alarm bells ringing in Whitehall long ago, have been met only by repeated pushes of the government's snooze button," said Peter Hollins, the foundation's chief executive.
"Setting new targets for 2020 is presumably a tactic to buy the government more time to get its act together, but it risks making the problem seem too distant to force through the necessary bold measures in this term,” he added.
In response to the Foresight report, public health minister, Dawn Primarolo, said that although progress had been made with healthier school food, clearer food labelling and tougher advertising restrictions on junk food, tackling childhood obesity was still a government priority.
The initial focus of the anti-obesity drive would be children, she said. "By 2020, we aim to reduce the proportion of overweight and obese children to 2000 levels."
The Department of Health said later: "When we set the original 2004 target we knew this would be a challenge. Obesity levels are growing throughout the world, and there is very limited evidence of international success at halting or reversing this trend. We have reconsidered the position in the light of emerging evidence."
It added that the altered target was signalled in last week's comprehensive spending review.
The central message of the Foresight report, put together by a team headed by Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser, was that there was no simple answer to the problem.
It is neither entirely the fault of the individual nor of society, Foresight says. There is no magic bullet solution, and no wonder diet drug will do the trick.
If current obesity levels continue, about 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 25 per cent of children in the UK will be obese by 2050.
The Children's Food Campaign, an alliance of more than 300 organisations, said the report showed the obesity time bomb was exploding. "We need urgent action to help people, especially children, avoid the less healthy, less happy and, ultimately, shorter life that obesity leads to," said its coordinator, Richard Watts.
The consumer organisation Which? urged the government to go "further and faster" by bringing in tougher rules. "Obesity is a complex problem but the solutions currently on the table are not up to the task," said its chief policy adviser, Sue Davies.
By Sarah Boseley, Health Editor
The Guardian
