CALLS have been made for curbs on marketing unhealthy food as nearly half of Scots admit snacking on cakes, biscuits, confectionery and savoury snacks more often than before lockdown.

Obesity Action Scotland (OAS) has now called for a ban on the "incessant marketing and promotions" of unhealthy food as the first step towards a healthier Scotland.

The Food Standards Scotland study of habits between January and July 2020,found our sweet tooth has been well and truly in use during lockdown.

Purchase of sweet home cooking, including cake, baking mixes, long life desserts, syrup, treacle and snacking fruit and nuts from mid February onwards was higher per week in 2020 compared to 2019, peaking at 90% higher in March.

Scots also bought more biscuits, confectionery and crisps during this time.

This was supported by results from their Covid-19 tracker which showed that in May, 44% of people reported snacking on cakes, biscuits, confectionery and savoury snacks more often than before lockdown.

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The analysis of Scotland's eating habits also found that 40% of people reported cooking from scratch more often compared to before lockdown. And some 29% also reported eating healthy meals more often which aligns with an increased amount of vegetables bought over lockdown.

It indicated that Scots were purchasing more food with higher calories and carbohydrate content.

Purchase of confectionery was consistently higher from May 2020 onwards compared to 2019 and substantially above the percentage increase seen in total food and drink.

The Herald:

OAS said these results combined with the data released last week from the Scottish Health Survey 2020, which reported that a significant number of adults report putting on weight during the pandemic control measures, indicate that we are "likely to be seeing an increase in rates of overweight and obesity as we come out of the pandemic control measures".

"As Scotland had already faced a public health challenge with persistently high prevalence of overweight and obesity it is important that we see action to tackle this issue," the group said.

Lorraine Tulloch, OAS's programme lead said: “The increase in consumption of discretionary foods is concerning. Even before the pandemic the Scottish diet was poor and was driving the high rates of overweight and obesity we see in Scotland.

"All of this is clear evidence of the power that the environment has over people’s diet. The lesson here is simple: food environment needs to be changed to improve national diet and diet-related health. We call for a stop to the incessant marketing and promotions of unhealthy food as the first step towards a healthier Scotland.”

The FSS data also confirmed that Scots bought more home cooking and meal ingredients including sweet and savoury cooking ingredients, canned goods, dried pasta, rice and pulses during lockdown.

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Its Covid-19 tracker showed that in May, 40% of people reported cooking from scratch more often compared to before lockdown. It said that it was encourage that 29% also reported eating healthy meals more often which aligns with the increased amount of vegetables bought over lockdown.

FSS chief executive Geoff Ogle, said: “Scotland’s battle with overweight and obesity has been brought into sharp focus by the pandemic, as poor diet is a contributory factor to increased risk of poorer health outcomes from Covid-19. This is in addition to the well-established links between poor diet, obesity and coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke and some cancers.

“The increase in vegetable and home cooking ingredients purchased is encouraging, with people reporting that they were cooking more from scratch.

“We need both government and industry to build on these encouraging findings.

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“We all deserve an occasional treat and unhealthy snacks can be hard to resist, especially now, but we shouldn’t forget that these types of foods are not needed in our diet. We have seen through the increased purchase of fruit and veg that habit changes are possible even in these tricky times. Cutting back on discretionary foods and building on the shift we have seen around purchase of more fruit and veg would help improve the balance of our diet and lead to better consequential health outcomes."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “It is important to see how our diet has been affected by the pandemic and so we welcome this report. Everyone has been profoundly affected by the pandemic. In many ways the findings are not surprising, cooking from scratch has increased as has purchasing snacks like biscuits and confectionery.

“Tackling obesity remains a public health priority. We are committed to creating a Scotland where we eat well, have a healthy weight and are physically active. We already have ambitious delivery plan in place and we recognise that the impact of Covid-19 has increased the importance of this work.

“We will need more data on consumer behaviour both in and out of home later in 2020 to fully understand the impact on our diet and remain committed to introducing legislation on restricting promotions of foods high in fat, sugar or salt as soon as possible.”