40th Anniversary Briefing Paper: Food availability and our changing diet

Abstract

Forewords Timeline Introduction Section 1: The interaction between diet and public health Section 2: The role of government Section 3: Trends in dietary patterns and nutrient intake Section 4: Factors influencing food access and availability Conclusions Acknowledgements References Summary Throughout the 20th century, average life expectancy has been increasing. This is primarily a result of a change in disease patterns, as infectious diseases have declined, and chronic diseases have become the nation's main killers. A number of factors are recognised to influence the risk of chronic disease, including diet and lifestyle. Therefore, dietary guidelines have been developed to help people follow a diet that can maximise their health and longevity. These guidelines complement more detailed dietary reference values, which were first established in 1950. Since then, these values have stayed much the same, and today they are used to asses thenutritional adequacy of the diet using data from dietary surveys, such as the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. The National Food Survey is another important source of information about what the population are eating. This survey has collected data on food purchased for consumption in the home since 1940 and therefore can provide invaluable information on trends in estimated food, energy and nutrient intake for the general population. Figures estimated from the National Food Survey suggest that since the 1970s, total energy intake has been falling in line with falling levels of energy expenditure. Nevertheless, this decline in energy expenditure has left individuals prone to gaining weight, yet the dietary guidelines in use today still focus on the need to monitor intake of fat and saturates. On the face of it, the British diet has been remarkably stable over the past 60 years. However, what has been evident is a shift towards a lower fat diet with lower fat meats, such as poultry overtaking beef, pork and lamb as the most popular meats and semi‐skimmed milk dominating the milk category since its introduction in the 1980s. There are a number of factors that have affected the trends in food consumption, some of which can be attributed to specific events; for example, the drought from 1975 to 1976 caused a shortage of potatoes, resulting in a high market price, which in turn led to a decline in potato consumption. It is beyond the scope of this Briefing Paper to explain all of the variations and changes in food intake over the past 60 years. However, this paper does provide an overview of the factors (namely government policies, advances and innovations of the food industry and consumer‐led changes) that have influenced food availability and access since the 1940s. For example, a significant policy that has had influence is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which was devised by six nations of the European Economic Community in response to the effects of war, in particular world food shortages. Many of the original objectives of CAP had been met by the time the UK joined in 1...

Packaged food intake by British children aged 0 to 6 years

“…The consumer drive towards convenience has not only resulted in more packaged food items being sold, but also has reduced the time allocated to food preparation and cooking (Foster and Lund 2007). This has resulted in a demand for items that can be quickly cooked in pack such as microwave meals, part-baked bread, and individual portions of foods such as rice pudding (Huxley 2006).…”

Agriculture and land use: Demand for and supply of agricultural commodities, characteristics of the farming and food industries, and implications for land use in the UK

“…There have been large fluctuations in the type of meat bought because of health concerns, such as BSE, but in general meat consumption has remained relatively steady. The major change has been the increase in poultry consumption, which has surpassed consumption of other meats in the UK since 2000 (Foster and Lunn, 2007). Recent concerns about the growing incidence of obesity have prompted calls for healthier eating, with implications for the balance of livestock, fruit and vegetables products in the national diet (Foresight, 2007).…”

“…Large supermarkets have delivered increasing convenience and choice to the sector. The number of product lines in supermarkets has increased from about 5000 in the 1970s to over 40,000 currently (Foster and Lunn, 2007). They have taken an increasing share of the UK food market (Frances and Garnsey, 1996;FAO, 2005), out-competing smaller and more specialist food retailers.…”

Vitamin D intake and risk of CVD and all-cause mortality: evidence from the Caerphilly Prospective Cohort Study

“…One possible explanation may be dietary change during the follow-up period. One study (30) showed that there has been a trend towards lower fat content in the UK diet since the 1980s. As vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin (1) , it is likely that vitamin D intake has also declined and indeed the current study showed vitamin D intake to be positively associated with fat intake.…”