The Food Foundation has reiterated the importance of diet in the nation’s health in a new report that urges the Government to recognise the importance of the food system in fuelling disease. Failure to act in a “decisive way” on food and health during this parliament will, it says, risk worsening outcomes, a stagnated economy and further pressure on the NHS.
‘Eating away at Productivity’ outlines how better diet has “unlocked power” to improve the health of the population. It uses the 2021 Global Burden of Disease data to show that implementing four dietary shifts recommended as part of Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy could save approximately 6,000 lives every year and reduce the total years living with disability (YLD) by 28,857.
Shifting the trajectory
Although published in 2021, there has been little subsequent traction on the National Food Strategy, which was supposed to feed into the new Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services that have yet to be published.
The four dietary shifts it outlined were:
• 30% increase in fruit and vegetables
• 50% increase in fibre
• 25% reduction in foods that are high in fat, sugar and/or salt
• 30% reduction in meat.
The Food Foundation points out that these shifts, in volume terms, equate to eating one apple a day and half a can of kidney beans, and cutting out a third of a can of Pringles and less than a single rasher of bacon. Furthermore, the gains they could deliver, in terms of reducing YLDs as a result of dietary risk factors could boost the economy by reducing economic inactivity caused by poor health, whilst also reducing pressure on the NHS and supporting interventions to rebuild it.
The report sets out some sample policies to support the recommended dietary shifts, including: introducing levies on food that contribute high amounts of sugar and salt to diets; mandatory reporting by food businesses on the proportion of their sales which are unhealthy and their scope 3 emissions; strengthening national safety nets such as Free School meals and Healthy Start; and ensuring living wage and benefits enable people to afford a healthy and sustainable diet.
