DT News - UK - Dental leaders seek to improve school meals in Scotland

Dental Tribune UK

Wed. 24 October 2018

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GLASGOW, Scotland: The Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow has published its response to the Scottish Government's national consultation on the nutritional requirements for food and drink in schools. In its response, the Faculty called for schools to remove foods such as pudding from lunch menus and proposed that young people eat more fruit and vegetables.

The consultation, which closed in August 2018, proposed introducing lower sugar limits in foods like breakfast cereal and yoghurts, as well as stopping fruit juices and smoothies that are high in sugar and low in fibre from being offered in primary schools, among other things.

Professor Graham Ogden, Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the college, highlighted that approximately one in three Scottish children currently suffers from tooth decay. He stated that the government’s consultation, while a positive step, did not go far enough to tackle this problem.

“We fully support the positive intention of these proposed regulations, but we feel that the Scottish Government should take a bolder approach if it's to ensure that our young people have the healthiest possible start in life,” said Ogden.

Ogden continued, “For example, we all agree that children should have greater access to more fruit and vegetables as part of their school day, but increasing access does not necessarily increase consumption. The guidance must include an evidence based plan to ensure any increase in provision also ensures that our young people consume larger amounts of healthier food during school meals.

“In addition, our membership also welcomes the intention to reduce the free sugar content of school meals. However, we totally oppose the inclusion of sugar-free drinks on the list of permitted drinks for secondary school as this could see the reintroduction of diet fizzy drinks. Some will argue sugar free is a harm reduction approach, but it has all of the well-known disadvantages of that tactic. We also know that diet drinks cause dental erosion, in addition to being a gateway to sugar,” Ogden added.

The Faculty of Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow’s response can be read in full here, and the report from the national consultation can be accessed here.

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