UPDATE: |GBBO’s Prue Leith says ‘it’s ridiculous’ as she issues ‘alarming’ health update News

Dame Prue Leith joined The Great British Bake Off as a judge in 2017, but she believes the nation needs to change its eating habits to help children

Great British Bake Off judge Dame Prue Leith believes food portion sizes are “ridiculous” as she described the levels of obesity among children “alarming”.

NHS statistics show that around 15 per cent of children aged between two and 15 were obese. While around 27 per cent of children were considered to be obese or overweight.

Prue, who is also a celebrated restaurateur alongside her televised baking duties, insists that the rising trend of obesity in young people is concerning. The 85-year-old culinary expert is advocating for early education on healthy eating habits for children, reports Gloucestershire Live.

She points to Japan as a model where children’s diet is predominantly unprocessed, resulting in only four per cent being categorised as overweight, and where kids receive a “free healthy meal” in school daily.

In an interview with The Sun, Prue said: “The obesity rates in children are alarming and getting worse, with almost a third regarded as obese or overweight. I’ve been saying for 60 years that we start addressing this by teaching children to love healthy food and the way to do this is to teach them how to cook.”

Prue also touched on the restrictions Japan has in place regarding supermarket sales but acknowledged that in the UK, the revenue generated from taxed chocolate, fast food, and other unhealthy treats means “we can’t afford to do that”.

Moreover, Prue proposes that weight loss injections could potentially be “the savior of the NHS”. This assertion comes at a time when NHS Digital reported 1.2 million hospital admissions in 2022/23 where obesity was a factor—a figure that has risen by eight percent since the previous year.

Prue is of the opinion that weight loss injections could save the NHS a significant amount of money. She also hopes they would lead to people changing their eating habits, and more importantly, their portion sizes.

The celebrity chef believes we need to shift towards smaller portions in order to maintain a healthy weight. She stated: “I just wish people would eat less.

“Portion sizes these days are vast. It’s ridiculous. We just eat too much.”

Prue, who joined Bake Off in 2017, has had a busy career as a journalist, chef, caterer, restaurateur, and broadcaster. Now in her 80s, she has stepped back from the celebrity edition of Bake Off, acknowledging there are now limits to what she can do.

Previously, Prue said: “These things are filmed back-to-back all the way through summer from April to August so you don’t get any time off,” she stated, adding reasons for her respite: “I’m getting quite old and there’s places I want to see. So I’m not doing this year’s.”

While Prue admits she has a “huge amount of energy”, she accepts there are limitations to what she can do now she is in her 80s. She said: “If anybody ever asks me to do something and I’ve never done it, I want to do it.”

However, she confessed: “If I get down on my hands and knees to weed a flower bed, I can’t get up again.”