Are Health Stars making us healthier? That’s the intent behind those little star ratings that you find on food and drinks in the supermarket and convenience stores. The Health Star Rating system was introduced as a voluntary scheme in 2014 to try and tackle a slew of diet related diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. So it’s worth reflecting on whether they are actually meeting their objective or not, 10 years down the track. And if not – then why, what are we doing wrong, and what do we need to do to fix it?
‘The majority of Australians are now dying of long-term food poisoning.’
Dr Ali Jones
Data from 2023 shows at least 1.5 million people in Australia are now living with diabetes, a 32 per cent rise since 2013. Around 1 in 4 children and two thirds of adults are overweight or obese, and that trend is increasing too. And nearly 40% of adolescents experience tooth decay. The common risk factor here is that they are all diseases related to our diet, and therefore the solution rests in ensuring that our food environment is as healthy as possible, and that it is designed in a way to help people make healthy food choices.
The food industry is ‘significantly off-track’ in complying with the voluntary target of 70% of intended products by 2025 in order to keep health stars voluntary. A recent study sheds more light - only 37% of the 21,197 products that are intended to have a Health Star actually have one on the label. Even more concerning is that there is really poor uptake for unhealthy products – only 16% of foods and drinks that would get 0.5 stars carry the label, compared with 61% of products that get 5 stars.
In this episode of the Dental as Anything podcast I speak to Dr Alexandra Jones about food and health policy, its role in improving health outcomes and the tension between good policy and accusations of a nanny state. We discuss the Health Star rating system, the need to make it mandatory, challenges in overcoming industry influence and the important role of using the law as a health policy tool. Ali is a public health lawyer and researcher at the Georges Institute for Global Health. She has a PhD in Medicine and Health from the University of Sydney and a Master of Laws in Global Health Law from Georgetown Law in Washington, D.C. Her work focuses on regulatory strategies to promote health lifestyles, which currently involves food labelling, pricing and marketing strategies and the commercial determinants of health.
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