HEART UK - The Cholesterol Charity - welcomes the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) recent directive on providing better nutritional information in a wide range of restaurants and other catering facilities. This directive ties in perfectly with HEART UK’s own work. The country’s leading cholesterol charity has long promoted the importance of healthy eating and with as many as 1 in 6 meals being eaten outside the home, it is essential that the country’s current healthy eating campaigns extend to external catering outlets. 

The FSA’s campaign also dovetails with the Government’s Healthy Food Code of Good Practice, which challenges the food industry to support the public in making healthier choices in an effort to reduce rising levels of obesity and diet related illnesses.  The FSA is currently talking to a range of companies that will act as early adopters of its scheme to introduce calorie labeling in the summer. This will result in calorie information on menus and other materials which are available to consumers before they finalise their choice of meal.

Dr Anthony Leeds, a Trustee of HEART UK, Medical Director of the Cambridge Health and Weight Plan and Visiting Senior Fellow at the University of Surrey, also endorsed this campaign:  “This proposal represents a wonderful opportunity to give consumers the information they need to make informed choices.  Individuals will, of course, be free to ignore the information but those who use it will have the power to take control of their health; this is especially important for those maintaining or losing weight and trying to control their risk of heart disease. This measure has my absolute support.”

HEART UK provides extensive dietary advice on its website, including how to eat well when eating out. Practical tips such as sharing a starter or desert, or taking the edge off your hunger by eating a small piece of fruit before going out to a restaurant are just two simple recommendations that are featured in HEART UK’s eating out fact sheet.