Nutrition considerations are often key elements in the development and production of food products. Discuss the influence of dietary trends and guidelines such as Health of the Nation on the production of food products.
Over the last 20 years the number of people who are obese has increased three fold and is still rising. In 1998 30,000 premature deaths in England were caused by obesity. It is estimated that nearly two thirds of men and over half the women in this country are now overweight or obese. This problem is increasing faster in this country than any other European country and if the trend continues to rise at the current rate then by 2010 one in four adults will be obese.
Heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and osteoarthritis are all conditions that are linked to obesity. All these conditions represent a great burden on the National Health Service. Heart disease causes 270,000 heart attacks each year in the United Kingdom and if obesity continues to rise then so will the incidences of coronary heart disease.
