Cancer Research UK have been in touch with all MSPs to provide the following briefing ahead of a debate in the Scottish Parliament on developing s Scottish healthy weight strategy.
Cancer Research UK Briefing Note: Scottish Government Debate: Developing a Scottish Healthy Weight Strategy
Obesity is the single biggest preventable cause of cancer after smoking and is linked to 13 types of cancer.
Scotland’s levels of overweight and obesity are the worst in the UK, and among the worst in OECD countries. 65% of adults and 29% of children in Scotland are overweight or obese.
The Scottish Government’s diet and obesity strategy presents a once in a generation chance to scale down cancer in Scotland.
In particular, Cancer Research UK is calling for the Scottish Government to regulate to restrict the use of multi-buy promotions on products high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) across retail outlets in Scotland.
Two-thirds of Scots support restrictions of this kind.
Cancer Research UK is calling for population level regulatory action on tackling obesity:
- The Scottish Government will be publishing a diet & obesity strategy later this year.
- The strategy should include a focus on improving the quality of children and adults’ diets by tackling the wider factors that lead to overconsumption of unhealthy food.
- This should include rebalancing the food environment from an obesogenic one to one that helps make the healthy choice the easy choice.
- The strategy should also be underpinned by clear and enforceable targets, and interventions that are effectively monitored and evaluated.
In particular, Cancer Research UK wants to see a commitment to regulations to restrict multi-buy promotions on high fat, sugar and salt food and drink in Scotland.
Price promotions are heavily used in Scotland
- Food Standards Scotland identified that nearly 40% of all calories, 40% of total sugar and 42% of fats and saturated fats were purchased on price promotion in 2014/15.[i]
- Consumer spending on price promotions in the UK is the highest in Europe and double that of Germany, France and Spain.[ii]
- Research in Scotland has indicated that price promotions are the most salient form of marketing for young people in Scotland.[iii]
- Of all the price-based promotions, multibuy offers, such as “Y for £X” offers are most predominant among unhealthy food and drink.[iv]
Price promotions tend to be used in the promotion of unhealthier food and drink categories – and they increase the amount of food and drink we buy
- Data on product purchases in Scotland show that around 50% of HFSS products are bought on promotion compared to 30% for healthier products.[v]
- 110 tonnes of sugar are purchased on price promotion every day in Scotland[vi]. That is the equivalent of 3 million chocolate bars or 3 million cans of cola[vii].
- Research by Public Health England found that price promotions increase the amount of food and drink people buy by around one-fifth (22%).[viii]
The public is aware of the impact of promotions on health – and keen to see Government take action
- The Scottish public is already aware of the impact that price promotions have on their health.
- Polling commissioned by CRUK found that 67% of Scottish adults felt encouraged at some point to buy more unhealthy food than if it were at full price because of multi-buy offers.[ix]
- The polling also found that 82% of people felt that multi-buy offers were a factor in getting people to buy unhealthy food at the supermarket.[x]
- Three quarters of Scottish parents would like to see the balance of promotions shifted towards healthier items[xi].
- Two thirds of Scots support restrictions on multibuy promotions[xii], with nine in 10 parents believing supermarket promotions impact what they buy[xiii].
The Scottish Government should use regulations to restrict the use of multi-buy promotions on products high in fat, salt or sugar across retail outlets in Scotland. These changes – as well as other actions outlined in the consultation – would re-enforce the Scottish Government’s reputation as a world-leader in public health policy.
#ScaleDownCancer
@CRUKScotland
[i] Food Standards Scotland (2016) Foods and drinks purchased into the home in Scotland using data from Kantar WorldPanel (pdf)
[ii] Public Health England (2016) Sugar Reduction: The evidence for action. Annexe 4: An analysis of the role of price promotions on the household purchases of food and drinks high in sugar (pdf)
[iii] Cairns G. (2015) The impact of food and drink marketing on Scotland’s children and young people: a report on the results of questions about exposure and purchase responses included in IPSOS-Mori’s 2014 Young People in Scotland Survey. Stirling: Institute for Social Marketing (pdf)
[iv] Food Standards Scotland. (2016) ‘Foods and drinks purchased into the home in Scotland using data from Kantar WorldPanel’. (pdf)
[v] Martin, L, Bauld, L and Angus, K (2017) Rapid evidence review: The impact of promotions on high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) food and drink on consumer purchasing and consumption behaviour and the effectiveness of retail environment interventions. Health Scotland (pdf)
[vi] Calculated by the Statistical Information Team at Cancer Research UK, 2017. Based on the 2016 Food Standards Scotland report ‘Foods and drinks purchased into the home in Scotland using data from Kantar WorldPanel’.
[vii] Calculated by the Statistical Information Team at Cancer Research UK, 2017
[viii] Public Health England. (2015). ‘Sugar reduction: the evidence for action’. (website)
[ix] YouGov poll of 1,037 Scottish adults (18+), commissioned by Cancer Research UK. Fieldwork was undertaken between 1st – 5th December 2017
[x] YouGov poll of 1,037 Scottish adults (18+), commissioned by Cancer Research UK. Fieldwork was undertaken between 1st – 5th December 2017
[xi] Survation poll of 1,037 Scottish adults, of which 312 are parents (16+), in June 2017, on their attitudes towards purchasing junk food. Data collected 9th-13th June 2017.
[xii] YouGov poll of 1,037 Scottish adults (18+), commissioned by Cancer Research UK. Fieldwork was undertaken between 1st – 5th December 2017.
[xiii] Survation poll of 1,037 Scottish adults, of which 312 are parents (16+), in June 2017, on their attitudes towards purchasing junk food. Data collected 9th-13th June 2017.
