The results of small-scale experiments suggest that an average weight loss of three kilograms per person (1 BMI unit) is possible. The health gain that such a weight reduction would yield is in the order of one quarter of the maximum incidence of mortality and morbidity attributable to overweight (see figure 3). However, the current trend runs in the opposite direction. Over the past 15 years, average bodyweight has actually increased by three kilograms and the number of persons with obesity, in particular, will continue to rise. The policy objective is to at least stabilize the current level of overweight,…
Author: John Leo
The health loss due to the presence of chemical food constituents or contaminants is more difficult to quantify than that due to microbiological contamination. A distinction is drawn between chemical contaminants and those chemical components which are naturally present in certain foods, such as nitrates, natural toxins and allergens. In the case of chemical contamination, there are usually no acute effects but there can be chronic health effects, such as cancer, which become apparent only after a long period of time. Because of the delay involved, such effects can rarely be directly attributed to exposure to any one chemical substance.…
Many people and organizations make choices with regard to food, based on their own perspectives, in which health and safety play a role: consumers, food producers, the catering industry, organizations which produce the guidelines for a healthy diet, and the government which must make decisions on the collective efforts to be directed towards the promotion of a healthy diet and the improvement of food safety. Sometimes those decisions will relate to a single ingredient, food or product, while on other occasions they will relate to entire groups or batches of products. Interests other than those of health alone are also…
Reduction of overweight and obesity The calculations presented show that the maximum health gains achievable through the reduction of overweight are no greater than those to be made through the improvement of dietary composition. Nevertheless, there are various reasons for tackling the problem of overweight as a matter of the greatest urgency. Firstly We see an unfavourable trend: the prevalence of overweight and obesity continues to increase, the rise being greatest among children and young people, which would suggest an even more acute problem in the future. Secondly, the seriousness of the obesity problem has long been underestimated, despite the…
In the current situation, it is clear that the health loss attributable to unsafe food is many times smaller than that due to an unhealthy diet. This is largely due to the fact that an effective system of food safety measures and control has been developed in recent decades. Clearly, this system must be maintained. However, it is appropriate to ask what maintenance level will be required in the future, in the light of existing and newly emerging threats. Priority Better risk assessment methods and improved risk communication with the consumer Food safety incidents, both large scale and small scale,…
According to modern views on health promotion, prevention is particularly effective if the interventions rely on an integrated approach. Such an approach not only addresses people directly about their personal behaviour, but also modifies the physical and social environment in such a way as to encourage desirable behaviour and discourage undesirable behaviour. This form of integrated approach is probably the key success factor in the United States’ reduction of smoking. A similar approach is now being used in the Netherlands. The approach entails a combination of health-related information about stopping smoking, pricing measures, smoking bans in public places, other legislation…
There are many ways in which food producers, wholesalers and the catering industry can help to combat overweight, to promote a healthy diet and to improve food safety. Greater availability of healthy products, and less advertising for unhealthy products Alongside a lack of physical activity, the cause of the rise in obesity is to be found in the overabundant supply of energy-dense foods in shops, workplace canteens and school dining halls. The advertising of unhealthy products is also a contributory factor. Convenience, flavor, price and acquired habits are the factors which determine the consumer’s eating patterns. The private sector can…
A healthy diet, the reduction of obesity rates and the promotion of food safety are all collective interests. Accordingly, the government has a part to play. In recent decades, the main emphasis of food policy has been on safety. The approach, set out in a government policy document entitled ‘Langer Gezond Leven’ (‘Living longer in good health’), addresses both lifestyle factors and environmental factors which encourage a healthy diet and sufficient physical activity. However, the emphasis should not be solely on overweight and energy balance, thereby masking the significant influence of a proper dietary composition on the prevalence of…
Why this report? For centuries, knowledge of what is good and safe to eat, and how it should be prepared, has been passed down from mother to daughter. In the early twentieth century, this empirical knowledge could be given a more scientific basis, partly due to advances in science and in epidemiology. Since then, our scientific knowledge concerning the relationship between nutrition, diet and health has greatly increased, and continues to develop today. That knowledge is mainly concerned with the biological effects of the individual constituents of food, such as nutrients, additives, microorganisms and chemical contaminants. Preventive measures intended to…
The Health Council arrives at similar conclusions to those of the WHO with regard to the relationship between the risk of developing obesity and dietary factors, physical activity and environmental factors (see column 1 of table 2.1). It summarizes current knowledge of dietary factors as follows. The likelihood of over-consumption (i.e. energy intake in excess of energy expenditure) is greatest with a diet rich in fats, as opposed to a low-fat, high fibre diet. This is particularly so in combination with a lack of physical activity. The influence of various types of carbohydrates on the regulation of the energy balance…