How do we promote health?

By Kamilla G. Eriksen

Different ideas on how to promote health were presented and discussed by both speakers and audience, when Øresund Food hosted the Winter School seminar on ‘Health Promotion – at individual or group level’.

“We need to change the ‘default’ of dietary habits”. This was one of the thoughts as to how we promote health, presented at the Winter School “Individual Health & Nutrition”, organised by Øresund Food, LMC, DHI, Actifoods and DI. The seminar was held the 8th of February 2011, where a mixed audience of researchers, students and health professionals attended.

One of the speakers at the seminar, Ulla Toft, from the Research Center for Prevention and Health, in Glostrup, Denmark highlighted the undesirable development of an unhealthy ‘default’.

Unhealthy ‘default’

Ulla Toft started her presentation with the question “How to promote positive changes?” and continued by saying that dietary habits are not only affected by the individual, but also by external factors. Especially the physical environment is a factor of great importance; where we live, the availability and access of food, and not to forget the price of it. This is all influenced by the structure; the regulations and legislations of the country we live in. It would therefore help our dietary habits, if the healthy choice were the easiest choice.

However, many facts indicate that we are going in the opposite direction where it is the unhealthy choice that dominates. An example is the consumption of alcohol in the UK, where the price has decreased from 1960 to 2002, where as the consumption of alcohol has increased in the same period. Another example is the availability of food. The size of sodas has increased, and most places you can only buy bottles of 2 liters. For fast food a standard meal at a fast food restaurant in 1985 consisted of 625 kcal, and in 2005 this increased to 1450 kcal.

Worth mentioning is also the location of food, which affects our choices. If the unhealthy snacks in supermarkets were moved away from the counter, there would be close to a 15% reduction in sale of unhealthy snacks.

These facts all indicate that we are fighting an unhealthy ‘default’. A new word in health promotion, which refers to the setting that is made available for the population, and in this matter, it is not an optimal setting. The choices need to be simplified, because most of our choices are not rational, conscious choices, thus a healthy ‘default’ is needed.

In order to reach this a combined strategy that targets both the individual and environmental level is required. We need regulations at all levels if the healthy choice is to be the easiest choice.

‘Long Live Copenhagen’

Mads Lind from the Health and Care Administration of Copenhagen, also gave the audience his ideas as to how health is promoted. His presentation concerned health in the municipality of Copenhagen.

Mads Lind started out by telling the audience that Denmark is falling behind on average life expectancy. In 1950 Denmark was rated as the 5th best OECD-country regarding the highest average life expectancy for men and women combined. However today we are down to number 20 on that list. The greatest risk factor to blame these statistics, is smoking. We loose years of life due to smoking, and that is also the reason why Mads Lind’s main focus is to reduce smoking in the municipality of Copenhagen. This is included in a four-year plan, ‘Long live Copenhagen’ which intends to create healthier and longer lives for the residents of Copenhagen. More specifically it is a health policy that will create changes at multiple levels so that smoking and alcohol consumption is reduced and physical activity levels are increased. To reach this vision, many changes are set in place, and one of them is to create more green areas in Copenhagen, so that the residents are able to be more physically active outdoors.

Work together at all levels

Ulla Toft ended the seminar stating that: “We need to work together, at all levels, to succeed in promoting health” and this was something everyone, both speakers and audience, seemed to agree upon.

The audience left the seminar with new obtained knowledge, and with a curiosity of what the next winter school seminar would reveal.