Author: Nia Rouseberg
Time for reading: ~1
minutes
Last Updated:
August 08, 2022
State dietary norms are not adequate to the goal of reducing early deaths from non-communicable diseases.
After examining government recommendations for healthy eating in 85 countries around the world, a study found that in 98% of them, government standards lag behind modern science and do not meet the goals of positive impact on health and the environment.
Although many people have never considered government dietary recommendations, they are present in various forms in our daily lives. On the one hand, they serve as a guide for the preparation of food for dining rooms and chairs for children (in nurseries, kindergartens, schools) and adults (social care), and on the other hand they influence children's education on nutrition, legislative initiatives and packaging policies. and food labeling.
The study , published in the British Medical Journal , found that national dietary standards were largely inadequate to reduce early deaths from noncommunicable diseases by a third . On the other hand, they diverge in order to limit global warming, agricultural pollution, land use and the destruction of nature.
The lead researcher, Dr Marco Springman of the University of Oxford , told Euronews that human nutrition is a major source of environmental damage . According to him, if we do not switch to more plant foods, dangerous climate change is inevitable.
Nutrition recommendations in only two of the 85 countries surveyed are in line with all 6 health and environmental goals, Dr. Springman said. These are Indonesia and Sierra Leone.
The report found that in 98% of countries, dietary recommendations do not meet at least one of the six health and environmental goals . If everyone in the world follows dietary advice in the United States or the United Kingdom, then the carbon emissions associated with the food industry will be three times higher than the set limits.
In all countries covered by the study, it is recommended to consume more red and processed meat than in the guidelines of the World Health Organization .
Dr. Springman's team recommends that the new dietary guidelines be in line with modern science and include a reduction in dairy and beef . Government recommendations need to include specific advice for people who want to eat healthy only plant-based foods .
The entire content of the Ordinance on the physiological norms for nutrition of the population in Bulgaria can be viewed here .