NHS ‘spy scales’ won’t tackle childhood obesity

NHS England, ostensibly wishing to respond to the challenge of childhood obesity, announced yesterday the introduction of ‘spy scales’ to monitor children’s weight remotely. These devices, which conceal the user’s weight, transmit data to an app that praises kids when they lose weight and offers guidance when they don’t.

But NHS England is missing the point. Whether the scales are justified depends entirely on how much they work to help kids lose weight, and NHS England appears to neither know nor care. That’s a pity, because knowing and caring about what works is its job.

Smoking bans and taxes on cigarettes are highly intrusive, but they save lives; deaths from smoking have fallen hugely in response to public health meddling. Wearing masks during Covid, in contrast, was intrusive but didn’t work. You might still wish to smoke or to wear a mask, but understanding the impact is useful information.