- What is a healthy diet and lifestyle?
- Current trends
- Barriers to a healthy diet and lifestyle
- The consequences of unhealthy diet and lifestyle
- Implications for the food and grocery industry

What is a healthy diet and lifestyle?

A healthy diet and regular adequate physical activity are major factors in the promotion and maintenance of good health. The Food Standards Agency has eight guidelines for healthy eating:

1. Base your meals on starchy foods
2. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables
3. Eat more fish
4. Cut down on saturated fat and sugar
5. Try to eat less salt - no more than 6g a day
6. Get active and try to be a healthy weight
7. Drink plenty of water
8. Don't skip breakfast

In the UK, recommendations for physical activity include:

• At least 60 minutes moderate intensity exercise everyday for children
• At least 30 minutes moderate intensity activity on five or more days a week for the adult population
• Between 45 and 60 minutes moderate intensity physical activity each day to prevent obesity

Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are major risk factors for chronic diseases as they can lead to overweight and obesity.
 

Current trends

The UK’s average weight has increased over the last few decades. For example, in England, the proportion of men classed as obese increased from 13.2% in 1993 to 23.1% in 2005 and from 16.4% to 24.8% for women during the same period (The Information Centre, 2006).

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

Consumption of fruit and vegetables

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.

Partaking in sporting activities

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)

Working longer hours

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 noted 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 both a lack of time and lack of knowledge about 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.

According to the World Health Report 2002:

• Low intake of fruit and vegetables is estimated to cause about 31% of ischemic heart disease, 11% of strokes and 19% of gastrointestinal cancer
• Overall, 2.7 million deaths are attributable to low fruit and vegetable intake
• Physical inactivity is estimated to cause about 10-16% of breast cancer, colon, rectal cancers and diabetes mellitus cases, and about 22% of heart disease cases
• Overall, 1.9 million deaths are attributable to physical inactivity
   

Implications for the food and grocery industry

The increasing consumer, media and government focus on health and diet means the momentum behind changing consumer attitudes is likely to strengthen in the future. Health and nutrition is a key area for companies across the food industry, especially the major retailers and their key suppliers (seen by front of pack nutrition labelling).