Campaign to tackle weight gain in young adults announced by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly

A new campaign tackling weight gain in people in their 20s and 30s has been announced by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

The campaign will support people in these age groups to prevent weight gain by focusing on sleep, stress, physical activity and nutrition.

Research shows that weight gain is influenced by factors such as environment, access to healthy and affordable food, physical activity, genetic makeup and lifestyle.

Mr Donnelly said everyone in Government had “a role in addressing overweight and obesity, the underlying causes of which are impacted by national policy and action across a wide range of areas”.

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“Many of the influencing factors lie outside our own individual control, such as accessibility and affordability of healthy food, socioeconomic stressors and the built environment,” he said.

Feel healthier

The Minister for Health launched the campaign alongside the Minister of State for Public Health, Well Being and National Drugs Strategy, Frank Feighan, under the Healthy Ireland framework.

Mr Feighan said the aim of the campaign was to “share information about behaviours that can affect weight while also supporting people to be and feel healthier”.

“Preventing weight gain is about so much more than simply eating less and exercising more. Weight gain can happen for many reasons and supportive environments can empower individuals to make healthier choices the most accessible choices. This campaign will empower individuals to pursue habits that can help to prevent weight gain.”

The healthy weight campaign will share “practical, expert information” about behaviours that can affect weight, in order to “support adults to be and feel healthier”. The campaign will be hosted on social media including Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

It was developed by Healthy Ireland in partnership with Safefood and the HSE’s health promotion team.