Are we still in the dark about fat and sugar?
British consumers are confused over sugar and fat, according to a study published by Future Thinking, a business intelligence research consultancy. Recently, there has been a lot of media coverage on over-consumption of added sugars in food, and yet when it comes to cutting calories, the Brits still are unsure whether it is fat they need to cut down, sugar or both.
However, the proportion of people who think they have a healthy diet has gone up by 5% since last year, but overall it’s still only 34% of the respondents in their survey. Many are still not changing their dietary habits despite knowing that sugar levels are high in certain foods and drink.
The study also found that reducing the price of food that is considered healthy would encourage people to buy it, which suggests that eating unhealthily is perceived to be cheaper than eating healthily. There’s also been a fall in the proportion of people who believe that parents have a responsibility for their children’s eating habits. 75% in 2014 believed that parents should have responsibility, 88% the year before and now it has dropped dramatically to 59%. It appears that parents are looking at schools to educate their children’s habits and possibly schools think it’s down to the parents. At this rate, few children will be educated properly and childhood obesity will simply continue to grow – are we doing a disservice to them with this impasse? Sarah Vine of the Daily Mail blames supermarkets and manufacturers (Stop Blaming Parents for Fat Children), another buck shifting in my view. We all have a responsibility, surely?
Read more about this study here
Seb is a writer and blogger of food and nutrition. He holds a bachelors and a masters degree in nutrition science, and has studied sports and exercise nutrition at postgraduate level. He specialises in plant-based nutrition and believes passionately that we can all live with a little less meat.