A number of countries worldwide have already taken steps to promote healthy diets in public facilities
A new WHO ‘action framework for developing and implementing public food and service policies for a health diet’ aims to increase the availability of healthy food through setting nutrition criteria for food served and sold in public settings. The action framework also aims to reduce preventable diseases and deaths from high consumption of sodium and salt, sugars and fats, particularly trans fats, and inadequate consumption of whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruit.
Consuming a healthy diet from pre-birth to the last days of life is vital to prevent all forms of malnutrition as well as diabetes, cancers and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The new action framework serves as a tool for governments to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate public food procurement and service policies that align with the core principles of healthy diets as outlined in existing WHO recommendations:
- limit sodium consumption and ensure that salt is iodized;
- limit the intake of free sugars;
- shift fat consumption from saturated fats to unsaturated fats;
- eliminate industrially-produced trans fats;
- increase consumption of whole grains, vegetables, fruit, nuts and pulses; and
- ensure the availability of free, safe drinking water.
Healthy public food procurement and service policies set nutrition criteria for food served and sold in public settings. These policies increase the availability of foods that promote healthy diets and/or limit or prohibit the availability of foods that contribute to unhealthy diets.
A number of countries worldwide have already taken steps to promote healthy diets in public facilities.
The world’s governments have already made multiple commitments to end all forms of malnutrition, including obesity and diet-related NCDs such as hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer.