Does making healthy food accessible actually affect what people purchase and what they eat? The answer is a little more complicated than you might think.
Eighty years ago, poor people in Britain suffered ill health as a result of eating unhealthy food, just as they do today. The only difference is, in 1936, policymakers didn’t blame the poor.
Yo-yoing between eating well during the week and bingeing on junk food over the weekend is likely to be just as bad for your gut health as a consistent diet of junk.
Many of us enter a new year reflecting on where we have been and our plans for the future. For some, this will mean acknowledging that a couple more kilos have crept on over the past year.
Reinforcement of the idea that exercise will lead to weight loss acts as a disincentive for those who stick to their exercise goals to only find the scales haven’t turned in their favour.
People overeat. And people don’t always make the healthiest food choices. That much is clear. But who is to blame for overeating and poor food choices?
Professor and Programme Director, SA MRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science - PRICELESS SA (Priority Cost Effective Lessons in Systems Strengthening South Africa), University of the Witwatersrand