Acting ACT Health director-general Paul Kelly said the 12-month roll-out of the new food and drink policy would give suppliers and outlet managers time to makes changes to their products, while educational materials about healthy eating would also be available as part of the ACT's Towards Zero Growth Healthy Weight Action Plan.

''The first step will be to increase the healthy options available in the vending machines in ACT Health facilities,'' Dr Kelly said.

''Making better food and drink choices more readily available is a simple step we can take to help people make good choices every day.''

Patients in Canberra's hospitals will continue to receive food based on dietary, medical and cultural requirements.

The move follows the ACT government's plans to ban the sale of fruit juice and sugary soft drinks in vending machines at Canberra public schools by the end of this school term.

Chief Minister Katy Gallagher announced the ban last month, bringing forward a five-year phase-out of sugary drinks as part of tough measures to tackle the ACT's alarming rates of childhood obesity.

Dr Kelly said the ACT Health policy was based on national guidelines and classifying foods into three categories - green, amber and red.

Green represented the best choices, amber, a need for careful selection and the red products should be limited.

The majority of food and drinks on sale at ACT Health facilities and events will be classified as green, while no more than 20 per cent of products on sale will be classified as red.

''We see this as an important initiative to contribute to improving our knowledge of and access to healthy food and drink choices,'' Dr Kelly said.

''This is part of tackling poor diet, overweight and obesity which are major causes of chronic disease and disability with almost two-thirds [or 63.6 per cent] of ACT adults overweight or obese.

''The implications of this are serious for individuals and their families, for communities, for our health system and economy.''

Council of Australian Governments data published last year showed that the territory was continuing to lose its war on obesity, with 25 per cent of Canberrans now considered obese and a further 38 per cent considered overweight.

The ACT's combined overweight and obesity rate increased from 23 per cent in 1995 to 63 per cent in 2013.

The percentage of overweight or obese children was 25 per cent.

The government has set a ''zero growth'' target for obesity as some predictions suggest the combined obesity and overweight figure could be as much as 80 per cent by 2025.