National Diet & Nutrition Survey Results
Last week, The Food Standards Agency for Northern Ireland, SafeFood NI and The Department of Health published the latest results of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey report for Northern Ireland and it is not good news.
The National Diet and Nutrition Survey looks at the eating habits of people in households across Northern Ireland. It compares different age groups (from 18months to older adults) and household incomes to give an assessment of how our eating habits compare to current government recommendations. It is an ongoing survey and the results are published every few years.
Here are just a couple of the findings:
Only 8% of adults were hitting their recommended 5-a-day fruit and veg intake, with just 4% of children aged 11 to 18 years meeting the 5 a day recommendation. Most of us have an idea of what one portion looks like, but for the purposes of accuracy, the goal is 5 x 80g portions a day for those aged 11 years and over. Children under 11 years are also recommended to eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day, but no portion size has been set.
We love our sugary snacks and drinks and we are consuming more than our fair share of both. The survey highlighted children aged 11 to 18 years as the biggest consumers of sugary, fizzy drinks, squashes and high sugar foods like confectionary. Girls in this age group are eating an average of at 20g/day compared to 14g/day for boys. Adults are not far behind, with an average consumption of 12g per day. This is likely to be an underestimation, as the report indicates that these age groups are likely to under-report their food intake.
We are surrounded by messages about nutrition, prompts to eat more healthy food and influencers urging us to adopt good habits, but it looks like most of us fall short by a long way.
Of course, we know we should be aiming for at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, eating more fibre, cutting back on sugar and saturated fat and cooking more than we eat out, and if you are a regular reader of this column, I suspect that you are in the minority of people who are hitting their daily nutritional targets, at least most of the time.
Our incidence of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other health conditions affecting our quality and quantity of life are on the increase and it is no coincidence that the results of this most recent survey show that our dietary habits are on an ever-decreasing spiral.
Of course, we ultimately make the choice about what food we put in our trolleys and on our plates, but when the more affordable options are junk food devoid of much nutrition, making big profits for food companies with potential adverse effects on our health, something has to change.
The food industry and our government have a responsibility to take our nutrition seriously to prevent our health crisis becoming worse than it already is. Looking at the bigger picture of disease prevention well into the future by investing in knowledge and skills around health and wellbeing now is the key to slowing down the steady decline in our state of health.
I think setting positive examples is always going to work better than making us feel mad, bad or sad about our choices so let’s end on a positive note. Simple things have a huge potential to shift our thinking on healthy eating and support us to make better choices.
Making healthy food more affordable, bringing cooking skills back into schools and incentives for us as a population to make the healthy choice for our health and budget could go a long way in making changes for future generations.