Vienna Declaration on Nutrition and NCDs - Health 2020

July 29th, 2013

On 4-5 July Choices was present at the WHO Ministerial Conference on Nutrition and NCDs in Vienna. The Conference issued the Vienna declaration, in which the member states of the WHO Europe region committed themselves to fight NCDs and invest in NCD prevention. The Declaration requires active engagement of all sectors of society to make the healthy choice the easy choice. To create a healthy food and drink environment, the Declaration stresses the importance of “product reformulation, consumer friendly labelling and nutrient profiling tools which facilitate a healthy choice”. The leadership of WHO on this issue is recognized, a.o. by mandating WHO Europe to develop a new food and nutrition action plan.

Source: WHO Europe - Vienna Declaration on Nutrition and Noncommunicable Diseases in the Context of Health 2020. Vienna, 2013.

A plea for contemporary cooking

July 15th, 2013

With eating habits rapidly evolving from home cooking to out of home eating, it is tempting to look back to the old days, when carefully prepared family meals were still made of locally grown ingredients. This nostalgic trend was sparked by influential icons like Michael Pollan, who recently published his new book ‘Cooked, a natural history of transformation’. And admittedly, it is an appealing line of thinking to relate many contemporary problems to our lost connection with food and food production. Many of the changes in eating pattern and food production in the recent past  have not exactly been contributing to healthy diets. Low quality food is dominating, people have little notion of what they eat and overconsumption is easier than ever before. Treats that used to be reserved for special occasions now appear in kids lunchboxes on a daily basis. So clearly, putting together a healthy diet has become a real challenge, in different ways than before. 

But while trying to reestablish our connection with food may help in some way, the real societal challenge cannot be faced by lengthy nostalgic reflections and time-consuming recipes. More importantly, we should think about how to mix all the ingredients of modern society into a healthier recipe. While nostalgia is tempting, it is also time-consuming. And as time is a scarce commodity these days, let’s move on. 

For a start by making the healthy choice easier, but also by making the easy choice healthier. People shop in supermarkets, so can we help them to find the healthier products in the supermarket? Cooking magazines and TV-programmes are extremely popular, so let’s use this to teach people how to prepare healthy meals that suit modern lifestyles. People are eating out more often, so let’s educate and motivate chefs, caterers and school cafeteria to cook and serve healthier meals. In this context, a great example is the fact that Dutch, Argentinean and Singaporean logo organisations are applying nutrient profiling systems (such as the Choices criteria in case of the first two), to out-of-home catering. 

Lotje van de Poll

Scientific expert, Choices International Foundation

Choices at the Nutrition and Lifestyle Conference

July 8th, 2013

On 26 - 27 June, Choices International Foundation sponsored the 7th Annual European Nutrition and Lifestyle Conference in Brussels. During this event, approximately 80 senior policymakers and other stakeholders joined debates on EU policy related to interventions for preventing obesity and the promotion of healthier lifestyles for European citizens.  

Choices International Foundation participated in one of the six panel discussions and provided a stand in the lobby. Also, the foundation sponsored the lunch on both conference days, stimulating participants to make the easy, healthy choice. 

Léon Jansen, Secretary of the International and Dutch Scientific Committee, represented Choices during the panel discussion ‘Beyond labelling: empowering and informing consumers to make better choices’. The panel was formed by Léon Jansen (Choices), Cristophe Didion (DG Health & Consumers, EC), MEP Renate Sommer, Barbara Gallani (Food and Drink Federation) and Bruce Neal (George Institute for Public Health). 

Renate Sommer pointed out the need for labels that are ‘easy to understand, legible and helpful for average consumers’ and that a label should be approved by the European Union. She also emphasized the necessity of scientific evidence to support labelling systems.  

Léon Jansen explained the scientific basis of Choices and demonstrated the positive impact of the logo on product reformulation and nutrient intake. He stressed the importance of communicating to consumers, as well as the need to move beyond labelling. Dr. Jansen concluded that ‘a front-of-pack logo is not enough to fight NCDs and solve the obesity problem, but it is an important step forward’. He added that ‘we should have active campaigns on healthy foods in schools, canteens and other public spaces. Information on packaging is just not enough.’

Bruce Neal explained the development of the FoodSwitch app and its great use in making better food choices for consumers. The app offers a database of 40.000 products and has been downloaded 350.000 times. Upon scanning the barcode, the users can immediately read easy to understand nutritional information. 

Other panel discussions during the two-day conference addressed claims regulation, child marketing and communication on healthy lifestyles.