Industry Watch
Results of the landmark 2024 Sustainability and Food Insights Dietitian Survey
2nd December 2024
Food + Planet has published its 2024 Sustainability and Food Insights Dietitian Survey in partnership with with Today’s Dietitian.
The survey included 1,106 registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) in the United States. It found that 96% of RDNs believe their profession should be actively involved in promoting sustainable diets. However, half of the respondents lack formal training, with 27% depending on industry-sponsored education.
Dietitians reported that they encounter significant barriers to promoting sustainable diets, 63% stated low consumer awareness or demand and 56% stated insufficient resources and tools, along with issues of affordability, access, and gaps in consumer knowledge.
96% of Brits believe gut health impacts quality of life
2nd December 2024
New research by PrecisionBiotics®, manufacturer of scientifically-proven probiotic supplements, has found that 96% of British adults believe that their gut health can have an effect on their quality of life (1).
However, 44% of British adults don’t believe that they can do anything to help their gut health and 4% of British adults believe that there is nothing that can be done to support their gut health. 59% of British adults are unsure what a healthy gut feels like.
Reference:
1) A Perspectus global omnibus survey of 1031 UK adults, conducted in August and September 2024.
Birth defects prevented by fortifying flour with folic acid
Monday 18th November 2024
New legislation has been introduced which will require non-wholemeal wheat flour to be fortified with folic acid by flour producers and millers from the end of 2026.
The fortification of non-wholemeal wheat flour with folic acid will prevent approximately 200 cases of brain and spine defects in infants per year.
This move to include folic acid will result in a reduction of neural tube defects by 20% in the UK and also improve pregnant womens' health. It will result in savings to the NHS, of approximately £20 million over 10 years and also improve the economy by more than £90 million over this timeframe.
‘We have learned to have low expectations’: why can’t British hospitals serve better food?
Monday 18th November 2024
Henry Dimbleby, has stated that “quite a lot of the relationship between food and health is chronic.” Henry Dimbleby has also said that the NHS is basically drug and intervention based and not based on prevention. In a reactive healthcare system, when a person reaches a hospital, a hospital meal may not make a difference – unlike an operation or a prescription.
Naomi Duncan, the CEO of Chefs in Schools has stated that we measure the incorrect things across the public sector. She said that the key performance indicators are normally hygiene, cost, and timekeeping which are easier to measure than the freshness of a meal or how nourished a meal makes a patient feel.