Food and Health Network
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Food for Life Partnership campaign
The Food for Life Partnership, with the backing of the Local Authority Caterers Association, Caroline Walker Trust and Sustain, has sent an open letter to Secretary of State Ed Balls, calling on him to implement six steps to transform school food culture without further delay. See the press release.
Recommended resources
The Food and Diet theme pages on the EMPHO website have been updated to include; - links to useful websites relating to nutrition, food and health; - links to charts and tables showing synthetic estimates of fruit and vegetable consumption by adults and children in the East Midlands; - information about the various sources of national data relating to dietary intake and food expenditure including some explanation about the data itself and how it has been collected.
In terms of its demographic, social and economic characteristics, the East Midlands region is broadly comparable to England as a whole. Thus, it is not surprising that, from the limited information available, dietary patterns also appear to be broadly comparable – for example, the proportion of East Midlands people eating five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day is close to the national average. Put another way, the healthy eating challenges for the East Midlands are similar to those faced by the country as a whole. These include:
- Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption - average intakes of fruit and vegetables are currently considerably lower than the recommended five portions per day.
- Reducing intakes of salt, added sugars, and total and saturated fat – some positive trends are apparent, e.g. intake of saturated fats, but average intakes of all of these nutrients remain above recommended levels.
- Achieving energy balance, i.e. dietary energy intakes which are not systematically higher than energy expenditure - the prevalence of obesity is increasing in adults and in children.
What we eat is central to our health throughout life. A good diet during pregnancy is important for the healthy development of the growing baby and women who breastfeed give their children the best start in life. A balanced diet combined with an adequate level of physical activity during childhood, helps to ensure that children grow well and do not become overweight as they get older. Avoiding sugary foods and drinks also helps to prevent tooth decay.
Good nutrition through adult life will help protect against diabetes, coronary heartdisease, stroke and some cancers. Healthy eating could lead to 20% reduction in deaths from these chronic diseases. An unhealthy diet and low levels of physical activity can contribute to people being overweight or obese.
Appropriate dietary advice can prevent physical and mental deterioration and improve the quality of life of older people, people with chronic diseases and those living in residential care. These groups make up a significant part of the 5% of the population in whom undernutrition is a problem.
The incidence of diet related diseases is significant in lower socio-economic groups where consumption of fruit and vegetables is half that of professional groups. In deprived and rural communities where comparatively few people own cars and public transport is poor and relatively expensive, people will have major difficulties in reaching shops which sell a range of affordable foods to make up a healthy diet. Shopping at small independent cornershops can be 60% more expensive than a supermarket. Consequently, the poorest people often face the highest prices for food, which is often not conducive to maintaining a healthy diet.
For families living on a low income, the free midday meal at school is of vital nutritional importance. Unfortunately there is strong evidence that not all who are entitled to this facility, actually take it up - possibly due to stigma. Ensuring that schools implement and accord with the Nutritional Standards for School Lunches 2000, could significantly improve the diet of young children in poor families.
Taken together with physical activity, a healthy diet has the potential to enhance the length and the quality of an individual's life. The current recommendations for eating healthily are:
- Maintaining a healthy body weight within the BMI range of 20-25
- Increasing the consumption of a wide 03-Jul-2008r day
- Eating more starchy food and increasing dietary fibre through a variety of sources
- Eating 2 portions of fish per week (especially oily fish)
- Reducing total and saturated fat
- Limiting sugar and salt intake
- Drinking alcohol within recommended limits.
Research by the Health Development Agency (now part of NICE – National Institute for Clinical Excellence) indicates that promoting healthy eating interventions in a variety of populations and settings are worthwhile and effective. England has one of the lowest fruit and vegetable intakes in Europe. If the population ate an average of five portions of fruit and vegetables per day, this would lead to a 50% increase in consumption. The potential for this increase to stimulate the local food economy is undermined by the fact that currently, 30% of vegetables and 90% of fruit is imported.
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Recent report: School Snack Survey 2005. A survey of foods available in schools, excluding school lunches, throughout the East Midlands |
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Healthy Start — see information on www.healthystart.nhs.uk |
