WILL THE JUNK FOOD AD BAN HELP CONSUMERS SERVE UP HEALTHIER EATING HABITS?

Dear Rocio,

Is the country becoming a nanny state by banning junk food? Can we make healthier food choices?

Name and address supplied

Rocio says: A column on healthy eating so close to Christmas might seem slightly odd timing. It is, after all, probably the most indulgent time of the year. But bear with me.

The reality is that the UK continues to struggle with one of the highest obesity rates in the world. This doesn’t just impact people’s life expectancy, but can also place further strain on the healthcare system, which spends billions of pounds each year tackling obesity.

But eating healthier food isn’t necessarily easy. New research from Which? found that over half of people we surveyed say they find it harder to eat healthily now compared to two years ago – with those on the lowest incomes struggling most during the cost of living crisis.

One factor is the price of healthier food. A third of our survey respondents said that healthy food is expensive. Another factor is convenience. Thirty-one per cent of respondents said they thought unhealthy food was easier to cook and, crucially for those on tighter budgets, lasts longer.

But that doesn’t mean people aren’t keen to include healthier foods in their diets. A third of respondents said they try to make their food shops as healthy as possible. The issue is that consumers feel a lack of support in making healthier choices.

Here, both the food industry and government have roles to play. Let’s start with the food industry. When we asked consumers what actions they believed supermarkets should take to help them make healthier choices, 62 per cent said stores should prioritise making healthy food more affordable. One way of doing that would be to include these foods in more special offers. The food industry could also help shoppers by placing clear nutritional details on the front of products. While a traffic light system is in place and is used by a range of manufacturers and retailers, it is currently only voluntary, so a common industry-wide scheme would help shoppers to make more informed choices.

For the government’s part, their intervention is paramount. Fully 82 per cent of consumers believe that the government should champion healthier eating. One specific area where consumers believe the government could do more is in restricting TV and online advertising of unhealthy foods. Here, there is already some progress. The government has announced that further restrictions for TV and online advertising will come into effect in October 2025. Progress also needs to be made requiring food businesses to report on the nutritional balance of what they sell.

Another potential government strategy, which has the support of six in 10 consumers, is to establish mandatory health targets for supermarkets, which will be underpinned by reporting and monitoring. This would give stores incentives to take a range of measures to encourage their customers to buy healthier products, including adjustments to the prices they charge, balance of promotions or product formulation. This idea has been proposed by NESTA, an innovation agency for social change, as the policy having the greatest impact on reducing obesity rates, and Which? supports it.

Mandatory health targets would be relatively cheap to implement, give supermarkets the autonomy to decide how they make changes, and NESTA estimates that if the 11 largest grocery retailers get on board with the scheme, it could reduce calorie purchases by around 80 kcal per person per day. NESTA also reckons this would help around four million people achieve a healthier weight and reduce obesity in Britain by nearly a quarter.

Food for thought for the government, then.

Rocio Concha is the director of policy and advocacy at Which?. To have your question featured on this page, email [email protected]

2024-12-06T06:26:17Z