I need your help.
We eat too much ultra-processed food (UPF).
It’s high in sugar and fat, which is a bad combination. It’s formulated to be highly palatable (read addictive). It’s cheap and it’s everywhere.
Our health is worse for eating this way.
The question for you to help me with is – how we get a suitable balance of the things that have worked in public health in the past?
For example, with tobacco, using levers available to governments and health regulators has worked – like taxes and other legislation, as well as equipping the health system with quit smoking skills.
If you go too hard, then you can’t sustain changes in left or right govt shifts.
Here are some of the things we could do.
Why is there no real public debate, let alone activism about food?
We march about all sorts of things but not about our health or the health of our children. We strike, we want this we want that but no one seems to care about the most important things for our health.
Here are the first 9 things I could think of…any others?
1. Update Eating & Activity Guidelines: Shift from nutrients (sugar/fat/calories) to UPF focus
2. Tax UPFs and use the money to subsidise real food
3. Ban Junk Ads similar to alcohol and smoking
4. Front-of-Pack Warnings of UPFs, or at least clear non-biased healthy rating.
5. Force Healthier Products (reformulation)
6. Mass “Eat healthier” Campaigns
7. Embed proper nutrition in education at all levels – health and at school and then in health degrees
8. Health System incentivised for reversing or preventing chronic diseases
9. Subsidised/Free Health Coaching to help manage knowledge and behaviour change difficulties in the health system – primary care secondary care wherever there is a need for better diet and it ties to health outcomes.
What’s your view on any of these strategies? What should we do to address the problems we have with the food environment?
Your opinion counts here.
