Social Sustainability

Improving dietary habits is an issue for society, not just individuals. Therefore it demands a population-based, multi-discipline, and culturally relevant approach.
 

The Family Food Survey 2004-2005 showed that the amount of fruit and vegetables eaten at home has remained relatively static since 2000. This is estimated to be equal to 3.7 portions per person per day, short of the recommended 5 portions a day.
 

Participation in sport has declined since the mid 1980s, from 46% of people in 1987 to 43% of people in 2002 (General Household Survey 2002). This could be due to social changes, where more people are working longer hours, which makes it harder to find time to exercise. The UK has some of the longest working hours in the EU; the average is 42 hours per week for men and 38 hours per week for women.
 

A study commissioned by Sport England (2000), showed that the proportion of young people spending two or more hours per week in curricular school sport had decreased from 46% in 1994 to 33% in 1999. Similarly, between 1986 and 1996 the proportion of under 17-year-olds walking to school fell from 59% to 49%, whilst the number of car journeys to school nearly doubled according to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1999).
 

However, this trend may be changing as:

• in 2002, 70% of boys and 61% of girls met current physical activity guidelines for children (achieving 60 minutes or more on 7 days a week)
• during 2005-06, 80% of pupils took part in at least two hours of high quality PE and sport a week (The Information Centre, 2006)

At the same time, there has been an increase in the number of hours devoted to sedentary activities. For example, in the mid-1990s the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys estimated that the average person in England watched over 26 hours of television a week in the mid-1990s, compared with 13 hours in the 1960s.
 

During 2004, 35% of men and 24% of women in England reported achieving the physical activity recommendations for adults (at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity 5 times a week).
 

Barriers to a healthy diet and lifestyle

Despite the growing focus on healthy foods over the last 25 years, there is still an upward trend in obese and overweight people. There are clearly a number of reasons for this and one of the barriers that may be preventing consumers from changing their diet is an inaccurate perception of what constitutes ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’.
 

Results from IGD consumer research note that there is a trend among consumers to compare themselves to the average size of the population, so as the population gets bigger, the size deemed acceptable could also get bigger.
 

Other barriers may include the belief that healthy food is more expensive; the increase in eating on-the-go and the perceived unavailability of suitable healthy options; too much conflicting and confusing information, and not giving health too much thought at point of purchase.
 

Lack of time appears to be a barrier to both healthy eating and physical activity. For example, IGD research has found that over half (55%) of the UK public choose to spend 30 minutes or less preparing and cooking their main meal, while 1 in 10 (11%) spend less than 10 minutes. Lack of time is also cited by 18% of adults as a reason for not participating in active sport (The Information Centre, 2006).
 

The combination of lack of time and lack of knowledge of how to prepare meals from scratch could be partly responsible for the growth in ready meals and the growth in the convenience market.
 

There are more people living on their own, adding to the potential for growth in the convenience market as people feel less inclined to prepare a meal for one. The number of single person households increased to 31% in 2002 from 17% in 1971; this translates to 13% of the population in 2002 compared to only 6% in 1971.
 

Healthy eating is only one component of a healthy lifestyle. Other lifestyle issues also have an important impact on health and wellbeing. Alcohol forms a commonplace part of many people’s eating and drinking habits, and binge drinking is a common phenomenon in the UK, particularly among younger people.
 

Physical activity can reduce the risk of a number of chronic diseases, as well as being important for muscle and bone health and maintaining a healthy body weight. The Government is already investing in improving opportunities for physical activity including the setting up of a new Activity Co-ordination Team (ACT), the aim of which is to increase participation in sport and physical activity to 70% of the population by 2020.
 

The consequences of unhealthy diet and lifestyle

Unhealthy diet and physical inactivity are two of the main risk factors for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.