IT MAY be a forlorn hope, but ministers are being urged to introduce mandatory salad bars in restaurants in the latest attempt to improve the Scottish diet.
NHS consultants believe that forcing vegetables to be served in the nation where 43% of the population is expected to be obese within 15 years could force forecasters to eat their words and Scots to eat their greens.
At the same time the SNP government has announced that it wants adverts for junk food and alcohol to be banned from the airwaves in Scotland before the 9pm watershed to help children develop a healthier lifestyle.
In a report to ministers, the consultants in dental public health and the chief administrative dental officers group argues: “If, as part of a meal, a restaurant is obliged to sell customers a salad every time they dine out then, even in Scotland, customers will probably eat it!”
Recent research by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) found that Scots are three decades away from reaching the World Health Organisation target of five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
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On average Scots eat 3.5 portions a day, despite advice that five portions cuts the risk of serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity and FSA research last year indicated the problem was worse.
Dr Colwyn Jones, a spokesman for the consultants, said: “The idea is that all restaurants would have a salad bar and customers would have to buy salad for £1 or £2 as part of the meal and they’d be more likely to eat it if they’ve paid for it.
“It’s a way of forcing people to eat salad. It wouldn’t be served to them — they’d have to walk up and chose what salad to eat but that might give them a bit of exercise too. There are Scandinavian countries already doing that and it could be good for the economy as well as health, giving more money to restaurants and also to farmers to grow crops.”
However, not all are convinced it would work. “People like me would certainly take advantage of it but the trouble is that you could simply end up with a lot of food waste,” said Carina Norris, a registered nutritionist and author of the You Are What You Eat books.
Norris does support another call the consultants and the British Dental Association are making for a sugar tax to be imposed on sugary food and drinks to reduce the incidence of obesity and tooth decay.
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But the Scottish government’s current priority is to urge UK ministers to ban television ads for unhealthy food before 9pm to protect children from exposure to powerful marketing messages and branding. Control over broadcast advertising is reserved to Westminster.
Currently, adverts for alcohol and high fat, salt and sugar foods are not permitted during children’s programming but they are allowed during early evening shows watched by large numbers of young people.
The proposed ads ban is backed by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and British Medical Association (BMA). BHF research found that many parents believe broadcast advertising for high fat, salt and sugar foods makes it more difficult for their children to adopt a healthy diet while it emerged last month that thousands of Scottish youngsters are clinically “obese or severely obese” when they start school.
A Scottish government spokesman said: “The Scottish government is taking decisive action to improve our nation’s diet and encourage and enable individuals to make healthier food choices. We need to make it easier for people to make healthier food choices which is why we are spending more than £7.5m between 2012 and 2015, on projects to encourage healthy eating.
“Earlier this year we launched our Eat Better Feel Better campaign which is working with retailers and community groups to give people the support and advice they need to make healthier choices.”
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Maureen Watt, Scotland’s public health minister, said: “We still, in general, have diets that are far too high in fat, sugar and salt, and levels of alcohol-related harm which are significantly higher than they were just a few decades ago.
“If we are to tackle the significant public health problems we face, we need bold solutions. We need a culture change in the way we think about alcohol and food high in fat, salt and sugar.
“There is a wealth of research which shows that children seeing these adverts while they are watching their favourite family programmes respond positively towards them and they affect their behaviour. That’s something that needs to be addressed.”