Consumers in the UK are eating less saturated fat and added sugar than ten years ago – although levels are still above recommended levels, the country’s food watchdog has claimed.
The Food Standards Agency said today (9 February) the intake of saturated fat intakes among adults have dropped to 12.8% of food energy – compared with 13.3% in 2000/01.
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Men and children are eating less added sugar, the FSA’s National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) said.
The FSA called the results “encouraging” but said the intake of saturated fat and sugar are still above the recommended level of 11% and of 12.5% of food energy respectively.
However, the FSA study claimed UK consumers were not eating enough fibre and that consumption of oily fish was “low”.
Gill Fine, the FSA’s drector of consumer choice and dietary health, pointed to the positives, including that a third of the population is eating five portions of fruit and veg each day.
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By GlobalDataNevertheless, she admitted there was “obviously a way to go” before UK consumers were meeting all of the Government’s dietary recommendations.
“Good nutrition is important for health and poor diet accounts for a large percentage of premature deaths,” Fine said.
“We now need to build on the indications of positive change we have observed in this survey. By continuing our programme of campaign work and encouraging product reformulation in key areas such as saturated fat, we will hopefully observe further improvements over the next few years of the programme.”
