The Association of UK Dieticians Scotland Board responds to government diet consultation

13 Nov 2017 --- The Association of UK Dieticians (BDA) Scotland Board has published an initial response to the Scottish Government's consultation A healthier future - action and ambitions on diet, activity and healthy weight, which proposes a range of actions to improve diet and weight in Scotland. 

The consultation draws on the learning from tackling other public health challenges such as alcohol use and smoking, and a growing body of evidence on the action necessary to improve the health of the whole population, according to the Scottish Government website. 

The board's policy statement urges the Scottish Government to:

• Recognize the importance of registered dietitians, at every stage, in leading the development and delivery of effective public health policy and, weight management and obesity prevention programs in partnership with other health and social care professionals and the public.
• Launch a national awareness campaign to highlight the positive steps that people could take to improve their health. This should include the impact obesity has on physical health and mental wellbeing and the need to address exercise alongside diet.
• Include the Health Promoting Health Service (HPHS) as part of the strategy and ensure that obesity is a central and explicit part of it, making sure that NHS Scotland supports its patients, visitors and staff to maintain or reach a healthy weight.
• Take steps to promote healthy environments that encourage and enable people to eat a healthy diet more easily and exercise regularly, including support for a UK wide approach to limiting the marketing and promotion of High Fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS) products and, through local planning processes.
• Provide greater financial support to existing Child Healthy Weight programs to ensure they can continue and build upon their successes alongside efforts to provide support for families with children in the first years of life. Encourage greater integration between the Child Healthy Weight, school, physical exercise and sports and, healthy eating and food skills’ programs.

The document includes input from over 100 dietitians across Scotland, and will form the basis of a more detailed submission from the Scotland Board in January.