'Buy one, get one free' deals for unhealthy food banned in supermarkets

Obesity rates have risen sharply over recent decades, with more than a quarter of adults and a fifth of children at the end of primary school classed as obese.

Greg Fell, president of the Association of Public Health Directors, said this move should not be seen as a "silver bullet", but said it was long overdue, arguing it should not have been delayed from 2022 in the first place.

"Multi-buy promotions do not save people money – in fact, they encourage them to spend more.

"They are designed to encourage impulsive purchases and to normalise buying more and more frequently."

He said he hoped retailers would now turn towards promoting healthy products more, to make healthier choices easier and more accessible.

Obesity rates had risen at an unprecedented rate over the years and were now a "key driver" of health inequalities as people in more deprived areas were nearly twice as likely to be obese, Mr Fell added.

"These are a long-overdue first step, but the government is far away from meeting its manifesto commitment to end junk food advertising to kids."

In particular he said there needed to be a tightening of restrictions on sponsorship of sporting and leisure events, as well as wider society investment to promote active travel and improve the quality of food in schools.

There is evidence to suggest restrictions on the promotion and sale of unhealthy products can have an impact.

A University of Leeds study, external published earlier this year looked at the impact of the one measure introduced in 2022 as planned – the ban on selling unhealthy products at key locations, such as checkouts, aisle ends and store entrances.

Before the ban, 20 out of every 100 items sold were what was classed as unhealthy, while after that it dropped to 19.

The researchers said this worked out at two million fewer products per day.

Although it was also noted there was a downward trend for the sale of these products before the legislation was introduced and high rates of inflation could also have had an impact.