High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Thursday, May 14, 2009
Diet
The White Paper on health 'Towards a Healthier Scotland' stated that Scotland's diet is a major cause of poor health in the country. The Scottish diet is traditionally high in fat, salt and sugar, and low in fruit and vegetables.
A recent review of dietary progress1 has indicated that although some progress has been made towards reducing total fat intake since 1996, there has been no change in the intake of saturated fat, fruit and vegetables, bread, oil rich fish and breakfast cereals. Furthermore the data indicate that there appears to have been an increase in the consumption of non-milk extrinsic sugars (added sugars).
There are marked differences in diet between affluent and deprived areas. Females in the least deprived areas are twice as likely to consume the recommended 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day than those in the most deprived areas (30% compared to 13%) according to the Scottish Health Survey in 2003. A similar picture emerges for Males with 26% consuming the recommended levels in the least deprived areas compared with 12% in the most deprived areas. The same pattern is seen when examining Scottish data from the Expenditure and Food Survey.
Other differences detected between most and least deprived areas included higher intakes of wholemeal bread in the least deprived quintile and lowest intakes of non-starch polysaccharide (dietary fibre) intakes in those most deprived. Interestingly however, there were no differences in the intake of fat or saturated fat detected between those living in the most and least deprived areas.
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Source: Scottish Health Survey 2003
1: Wrieden WL, Barton KL, Armstrong J, McNeill G.A Review of Food Consumption and Nutrient Intakes From National Surveys in Scotland: Comparison to The Scottish Dietary Targets. Available on the Food Standards Agency Web site by mid July 2006.
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