Eating on the run

Stop and read new health message

Women will need to make time when food shopping to read a new health message appearing soon on supermarket shelves about the importance of having folate in their daily diets in an effort to reduce the numbers of babies with spina bifida.

According to research released today by the Australian Supermarket Institute, major changes in Australian society have meant that food shoppers are time poor.

Speaking at the Retail Show in Sydney, Managing Director of the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA), Ian Lindenmayer, said because of the time pressures on people's lives, many people are likely to be in a situation where they need to make quick and easy decisions about food.

"It's important consumers have facts at their fingertips so they can make informed decisions in the supermarket aisles about what food goes into their shopping trolleys," Mr Lindenmayer said.

"ANZFA is running an exciting new pilot project which trials the use of a health claim on food labels promoting the benefits for women of having a diet rich in folate to help reduce the risk of having a baby with spina bifida.

"For the first time ever, many foods will be approved to legally carry this message which makes a direct link between eating folate and a demonstrated health outcome," he said.

"To date, ANZFA has received and is considering applications from companies representing both fresh food and manufactured products to allow more than 80 foods to carry the folate health claim," Mr Lindenmayer said. "It is anticipated that the approved products carrying the folate health claim will begin appearing on supermarket shelves in November."

"We're keen to evaluate whether the folate health claim on foods acts as a 'trigger' for consumers to make healthy shopping decisions," he said.

ANZFA Principal Nutrition Advisor, Dr Fiona Cumming, said the recent scientific knowledge about the link between folate and spina bifida called for a new approach in public health communication.

"Every year in Australia, there are 400-500 pregnancies affected by neural tube defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly," Dr Cumming said.

"One of the greatest tragedies about spina bifida is that it's largely preventable yet this fact still isn't widely known in the community.

"Food alone isn't a magic cure-all to this problem but a diet rich in folate and/or taking a folic acid supplement at least one month before conception and for three months afterwards may help prevent up to two thirds of all neural tube defects," she said.

"This is why we're trialing the use of the folate health claim on foods to see whether it's an effective way to reach people with important public health messages.

"Importantly, government, health professionals, the community, and the fresh and processed food industry are working together to try and deliver a public health bonus for Australians," Dr Cumming said.

The scientific pilot study will run for 18 months. The overall success of the folate health claim will be evaluated before widescale approval of other health claims on food products is considered.