Jul 17th, 2023
2 mins
Food Standards Scotland have recently published their Public Health Nutrition Strategy setting out a revised approach to addressing the statutory objective to improving the diet of the population in Scotland.
In the last 20 years, there has been little improvement towards achieving the dietary intakes set out in the Scottish Dietary Goals (SDGs).
This places a huge stress on both the NHS and society in general as the approximate costs of treating overweight and obesity in Scotland are estimated to be in the region of £363-£600 million, with wider related costs such as loss of productivity suggested to be between £0.9-£4.6 billion.
At present, the food environment heavily incentivises and promotes low-cost foods which over-contribute to energy, fat, saturated fat, salt and free sugar intakes. The strategy signals a greater focus on measures to influence the food environment supporting healthier and more sustainable options for consumers.
The strategy can be downloaded in pdf format here
