Eating Their Health Away?

Between 2008 and 2019, the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey asked almost 3000 participants to keep 'food diaries'. At the start of the study, these participants were aged between 11 and 18. The food diaries appeared to reveal that UK adolescents get circa 65% of daily calories from Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs). Consumption of UPFs seemed highest in subjects from deprived backgrounds (https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/17/uk-adolescents-get-two-thirds-of-daily-calories-from-upfs-says-survey). Lots of recent concern about UPFs have been expressed. They, are an ill-defined category, but links of consumption to later ill-health appear evident. Taken at face value, it appears that poor UK diet will leave a legacy of disease. This may be especially true of poorer sections of communities. Some limitations of this study are, however, rather obvious. Three thousand is actually a relatively small sample. It's likely to be unrepresentative of the diversity in the general population. Also accurately keeping food diaries over such an extended period, isn't easy. This may be especially true of younger and/or less-informed/parentally supported youngsters. Some participants may not even know what precisely they are eating. The same may even be true of the folk trying to interpret the diaries. It's actually surprising how little members of the public glean from current food labels. Consumption of UPFs by adolescents, is certainly an area that urgently needs careful investigation. It's likely to be difficult to get young folk to change their diets, once they have habituated.