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The impact of the healthyliving award on the achievement of Nutrient and Food Standards

Project Code: FS324022

31/01/2012

Food Standards Agency
Milne, A

This project tested the assumption that implementing the Scottish Government’s healthyliving award criteria helps people to meet their nutritional requirements. A 3 week prison menu was analysed based on the simulated choice of healthy options at each meal. The energy, macronutrient and micronutrient content was calculated. Overall, this is an encouraging piece of work that provides quantitative evidence that applying the healthyliving award catering criteria has been successful in meeting most nutrient requirements.

The results suggest that implementation of the healthyliving award has been successful in producing a diet that meets most nutrient requirements over the a week including percentage energy from total fat; saturated fatty acids; total carbohydrate; NMES; fibre; protein and most vitamins and minerals including iron, calcium, folate, vitamin C and zinc. Reaching the salt target was more challenging in the prison setting, but the salt content was significantly lower than the average intake for men in Scotland. Application of the healthyliving award criteria also meant that fewer calories were provided which may help to promote weight loss when choosing healthy options.

Overall, this is an encouraging piece of work which provides quantitative evidence that applying the healthyliving award catering criteria is helpful in achieving a healthy balanced diet. Implementing the healthyliving award fully and widely in Scotland could have a positive impact on public health.

Final report

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