White Paper on a Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity related health issues

In May 2007 the European Commission adopeted a White Paper on A Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity related health issues. The aim of this White Paper is to adopt an integretd EU approach to reduce health issues related to poor nutrition in EU Countries. The White Paper stresses the importance of enabling consumers to make informed choices, ensuring that healthy options are available, and calls upon the food industry to work on reformulating recipes in order to reduce levels of salt and fats. The White Paper also stresses the benefits of physical activity, encouraging Europeans to exercise more.

To access the White Paper please  click here. 

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Diet & Nutrition

Consultation on how to promote healthy diets and physical activity
In December 2005, the European Commission launched a public consultation on how to promote healthy diets and physical activity. The consultation objectives were two-fold: gather information on strategies to reduce obesity levels which could complement, support and coordinate existing national measures; and collect concrete suggestions and ideas on actions that can be taken in all sectors and at every level of the society to address the growing rise in obesity in Europe and to encourage healthier lifestyles in Europeans.

In order to clarify the link between respiratory health and diet, the ERS submitted a response to the Commission consultation. 

 Read the ERS position paper

In Europe, a total of 14 million children are overweight and three million of them are obese. About 90% of children in Europe eat less than the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables per day.
This increasing obesity trend across Europe calls for action at local, regional, national and European levels, and across all policy areas, such as social policy, consumer policy and research. The European Union has, for some time now, actively promoted activities in the field of diet and nutrition through its Public Health Programme. Under the Public Health Programme, the European Commission funds a number of projects aimed at collecting data on obesity, nutrition and physical activity, as well as projects aimed at promoting healthy diets.

In March 2005, Commissioner Kyprianou launched the EU Platform on Diet, Physical activity and Health. The platform brings together industry and consumer groups, health experts and political groups, and aims to come up with concrete actions designed to contain or reverse current trends and to tackle Europe's obesity epidemic.  The platform will consider voluntary action in the fields of consumer information and education, marketing and advertising, promotion of physical activity, composition of food and portion sizes.

In December 2005, the European Commission published a Green Paper on the promotion of healthy diets and physical activity, in order to begin an extensive public consultation on how to reduce levels and the prevalence of associated chronic diseases in the EU. In the light of the results of the consultation, the Commission will consider any measures that may need to be proposed, as well as the instruments for their implementation.