Consultation of the Scottish Government’s Healthier Future document closes on the 31st January 2018. The document proposes a range of actions to improve diet and weight in Scotland including restrictions on advertising and promotions of food and drink high in fat, sugar and salt.

Whilst we fully agree that for many of the areas of the population these proposed actions are great idea but what about our older people? As we heard from BBC breakfast earlier this week and the Times many of our older people are hungry and malnourished will the proposed actions help our older people who are already not eating enough?

We have been hearing from older people that they are afraid how these proposed actions will affect them as many of them are being given conflicting advice. Whilst they are hearing on the news and TV that ‘snacking is bad for them’ they are being advised to eat 3 small meals a day and snack in between meals; how they should be ‘eating things low in fat’ but they are being advised to make sure they have full fat options to boost their calorie intake and to eat what they want as ‘any food is better than no food’ and to ‘ditch the restrictive diet as this isn’t a time to be worrying about cholesterol’!

Another fear is that food and drinks deemed to be ‘unhealthy’ will become more expensive and with many older people already living on tight budgets will they be in a position to be able to buy the foods they have been recommended to eat?

To find out more about the work we are doing with older people and food visit our Food Buddies project page. 

To see the consultation in full and find out how to respond by the 31st January 2018 click here.