An assessment of the food and nutrition needs of the people of West Sussex is being carried out by the county council.
It forms part of the West Sussex Joint Strategic Needs Assessment – the evidence base that informs decisions on health and well-being across the county.
During the annual meeting of the council, Bob Lanzer, cabinet member for public health & well-being, said that feedback from a recent consultation had reinforced the view that food and nutrition should be a priority for the council.
Mr Lanzer said: “Food and nutrition – diet if you will – is one of the top ten determinants of better health or earlier poor health. What we seek to do is help people right across the community – residents, people in the education sector, in working businesses – about healthier food choices, portion control and the like, in order to boost their health.”
Led by the council’s public health team, the Food & Nutrition Health Needs Assessment will provide a detailed analysis of the population need and the impact on both physical health and mental health & well-being.
Charlotte Kenyon (Con, Pulborough) said that the preventative nature of the work was essential – acting now to head off later, expensive, problems. As for the educational side, she added: “People need to know how to cook, what to do with the food that’s available to them. There’s a tendency to think it’s easier and cheaper to buy cheap food but cheap food is generally not very good for you. If you know what to do with a pile of vegetables and an egg and a bit of streaky bacon, you get something really tasty at low cost.”
Figures from the Food Foundation show that, in the UK in 2021, there were nearly 40,000 deaths in adults aged 20+ due to obesity and being overweight – an increase of 13% in the last decade.
Poor diet is linked to things such as high blood pressure, high BMI, high cholesterol, low bone mineral density, and child and maternal malnutrition.
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