Aseem Malhotra1&2, Mahiben Maruthappu3, Terence Stephenson4
Tackling the obesity epidemic and its asso- ciated adverse health consequences is one of today’s important public health chal- lenges. Obesity directly costs the National Health Service (NHS) about £6 billion per year. Direct and indirect costs of diabetes are estimated to be £24 billion and are likely to double over the next 20 years.1 Some fundamental among the medical and healthcare com- munity and lay public inhibit the imple- mentation of effective interventions. Our decisions about the food we buy and what we eat are often automatic and made without full conscious awareness.2For example, despite wanting to lose weight, we’re still tempted to buy the brightly packaged chocolate bar at the checkout till.