Poor Diet Warning For Scots
Food Standards Scotland Board will consider proposals to improve the Scottish diet.
Food Standards Scotland (FSS)’s Board will consider proposals, including reductions in the promotion, advertising and portion size of certain foods and drinks and consideration of the use of taxation and regulation to improve the Scottish diet.
Geoff Ogle, Chief Executive of FSS, said: “Since Food Standards Scotland was established just short of 10 months ago, we have been evaluating and considering a wide range of measures to help improve the Scottish diet. We’re now in a position to take our recommendations to our Board for them to decide what should be taken forward and recommended to Scottish Government Ministers.
“We’re very aware there is no single silver bullet solution to reducing our obesity and overweight problem, and indeed these problems are not solely diet-related, as exercise and being more active plays a vital role too.
But we do believe that the measures we are proposing are vital pieces of the jigsaw. We’ve been missing the Scottish Dietary Goals for the last 15 years, despite all the good work that’s been done, so we believe that radical change is needed.
“We are also aware that accessibility and affordability remain significant barriers to people choosing a healthier diet in our society. Food Standards Scotland is committed to working with industry, central government and other bodies to address these barriers in addition to this package of measures.
Fifteen years from now we need to be able to look back and be able to say this was the point where we started to turn round the current trend: a trend which could see Scotland with adult obesity levels at 40% by 2030 unfortunately, it’s that stark.”
In addition to the Board paper, FSS are today, in collaboration with Kantar Worldwide, publishing the FSS report: Monitoring foods and drinks purchased into home in Scotland, using retail data from Kantar World Panel, which confirms a lack of progress in Scotland.
Despite reductions in the purchase of soft drinks containing sugar, down by 21% since 2010, total sugar purchasing has not changed. FSS figures show that over the period 2010-2015, total calories purchased have not reduced at a population level in Scotland.
The report also provides evidence on food and drink shopping trends in Scotland over the past five years which confirms the large quantities of discretionary foods such as sweets, chocolate, crisps, savoury snacks, biscuits, cakes, pastries and sugary drinks being consumed by consumers in Scotland.
The report quantifies the increase in purchase of these foods and drinks in the lead-up to Christmas, when on average, an additional 9000 calories is consumed by every adult in Scotland. Consumption of these extra calories could equate to a 1kg (2.2lbs) weight gain for every adult in Scotland with potential associated increased risk of diet-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes.
Geoff added: “The report we’re publishing today shows that in five years the best we can say we have done is stand still. Our conclusion is that, overall, the gains made in sugary drink reduction by the drinks industry have been negated through recycling of sugar into different products within the retail offering.”