Evaluating and informing reformulation strategies to achieve healthier Australian diets

Unhealthy diets are a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which are the leading cause of death and disability in Australia and globally. The World Health Organization recommends a suite of policies to address diet-related NCDs, including governmental regulation of the food environment to make it easier for individuals to make healthier choices. In 2020-21, the Australian federal government released reformulation targets for sodium, sugar and saturated fat across a range of foods. This body of work aimed to evaluate and inform Australia’s reformulation program and explore the impact of advocacy on food industry voluntary reformulation. Chapter 2 and 3 evaluated the effectiveness of reformulation programs to achieve population-wide sodium reduction in Australia. These studies found that a small number of food companies and their products accounted for the majority of sodium purchases. This thesis found that Australia’s reformulation program is estimated to result in a very small reduction in sodium purchases and that if Australia had adopted the UK sodium targets, this would achieve twice as much sodium reduction. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 focused on sugar reduction. In these chapters, I highlight the need for sugar reformulation in Australia and model the likely impact of Australia’s reformulation program. Findings show that the majority of added sugar purchases are attributable to a small number of food categories, of which many are not included in Australia’s reformulation program. We also found that the current reformulation targets will have a negligible impact on sugar consumption in Australia and that the UK sugar reduction program has significantly more potential to reduce population sugar intakes through a more comprehensive array of strategies to cut sugar from the food supply. Chapter 7 found that an advocacy strategy that aimed to improve the nutritional quality of private-label products sold by a major food retailer in Australia was ineffective in improving the healthiness of their private-label products. Together, these studies highlight that while regulatory strategies are needed to achieve healthier Australian diets, the current reformulation policies set by the Australian government are not enough to meaningfully shift diets in a positive direction. Findings from this work are of use for governments, policymakers, and others interested in developing new regulations, or strengthening existing ones to improve public health.

Grantor dc:publisher

UNSW, Sydney

Year dc:date

2021

Author dc:creator

• Coyle, Daisy

• Sodium
• Sugar
• Salt
• Diet
• Public Health
• Nutrition
• Reformulation
• Food Policy
• Packaged food

Statement dc:rights

• open access
• CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
• free_to_read

Licence

• https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/

Language dc:language

EN

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/22826

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/71226