FSS recommends new Scottish Dietary Goals

The Food Standards Scotland (FSS) Board are to advise the Scottish Government that the Scottish Dietary Goals should be updated to reflect the recent recommendations from the independent Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) on carbohydrate and health.

The proposed revised goals are to reduce sugar to 5% of total energy, increase dietary fibre intake to 30g per day, and to maintain total carbohydrate at 50% of total energy with no more than 5% total energy from sugar.

FSS has said it recognises the challenge of meeting the Scottish Dietary Goals which is highlighted by the publication today of the FSS Situation Report: The Scottish Diet: It Needs To Change. The report collates and presents current evidence to provide information for policymakers, stakeholders including the food and drink industry, health professionals and consumers to highlight the scale of the challenge and the need for change if Scotland is to realise the vision of a healthier, more prosperous nation. The report also recognises the need for collective action to address the problem.

Report finds the Scottish diet too high in calories, fats, sugars and salt

This evidence contained within the Situation Report highlights:

• 65% of the Scottish population are either overweight or obese but…
• three-quarters (77%) of people in Scotland believe they have a healthy or very healthy diet.
• Around half a million people in Scotland are at a risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• The Scottish diet is too high in calories, fats, sugars and salt, and too low in fibre, fruit and vegetables.

This is the first of three FSS Board papers to address and recommend necessary changes to the Scottish diet and how it can be improved. The second paper will be discussed at the January 2016 Board meeting and later in 2016 a third paper will be presented on a nutrition strategy framework for Scotland.

Ross Finnie, Chair, Food Standards Scotland said: “The Scottish diet is not improving and the problem of diet-related ill-health is now spanning the generations.”

“There is a disconnect between the scale of the problem and how healthy people believe their diet to be. We all need to recognise there is a problem and everyone including consumers, the food and drink industry, retailers, media and government has a part to play in finding a solution.”