According to a report in the Guardian medical experts have been criticising the governments tactics on tackling childhood obesity, stating that not only is it weak and embarrassing but they have thrown away the best chance of tackling the unhealthy eating culture which is crippling the National Health System. Currently over a 3rd of children leaving primary school are overweight or obese leading to a lifetime of health problems. Public Health England advised on two measures which the government has totally ignored. 1) Banning price-cutting promotions on junk foods in supermarkets. 2) Restricting advertising of unhealthy foods which are high in fat, sugar or salt during family TV programmes.
We spoke to OptiBiotix Health Plc (LON:OPTI) CEO Stephen OHara for his thoughts: “Today’s news reflects the conflicting demands between Public Health experts recommending restrictions on advertising and a tax on high sugar foods and drinks, and the potential economic impact on the Food and Drinks industry. OptiBiotix is taking an alternative approach which recognises the difficulties of changing consumer behavior by developing SweetBiotix® – sweet natural healthy sugars not digested in the human gut and hence calorie free. This is an innovative concept which has the potential to address international concerns over the impact of sugar on obesity, with the prospect of replacing ‘unhealthy’ sugars in existing products with non digestible, low calorie, healthy, SweetBiotix®’.
OptiBiotix Health plc was formed in March 2012 to develop compounds which modify the human microbiome – the collective genome of the microbes in the body – to prevent and manage human disease. The aim of the company is to discover and develop microbial strains, compounds and formulations, which modulate the human microbiome and can be used as food ingredients and supplements or active compounds for the prevention and management of human metabolic diseases, examples of which include obesity, cholesterol and lipid distribution and diabetes. The company have established a pipeline of microbiome modulators that can impact on lipid and cholesterol management, energy harvest and appetite suppression. The development pipeline is fueled by its proprietary OptiScreen® and OptiBiotic® platform technologies designed to identify metabolic pathways and compounds that impact on human physiology and bring potential health benefits. These platforms are applicable across a wider range of other human diseases.
