We’re too heavy

We must all unite to improve the food environment in the Faroes.

So said Snorri Patursson, head nutritionist at the Public Health Board, in a lecture on dietary trends in the Faroes over the past 30 years.

The lecture was part of the research council’s annual ‘vísindavøkan’ science day, held in Runavík on Friday.

New snacking culture

The latest figures show that 62 percent of the Faroese population weighs too much, and this is not without its reasons.

“The food environment is changing, and that inevitably affects our eating habits,” he said.

“The arrival of 24-hour service stations and bigger and bigger candy bags, for instance, has led to a new snacking culture in which we increase our intake of unhealthy, easily digestible foods.”

To reverse this trend, he added, we all need to stand together to somehow restrict access to unhealthy food while making it easier to access healthy food.

 >> SEE ALSO Most say they’re healthy

He mentions the 7-Eleven convenience stores in Denmark as an example.

“They have changed the layout of their stores so that more healthy options are available in the ‘impulse buy’ sections,” he said.

“Realising that the changing food environment affects our eating habits is crucial if we wish to reverse this trend of an increasingly overweight population. We need to make it easier for consumers to avoid and turn down junk food.”

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

More Faroese News in English.