Education with brains, hearts and hands enables a sustainable lifestyle

2023-10-09 07:31:07

Business Breakfast “Future Nutrition Education”: Experts call for the transfer of nutritional knowledge and competence for positive effects on the health and nutrition system

Vienna (OTS) – At a business breakfast the forum. nutrition today (f.eh) presented nine recommendations for comprehensive and sustainable nutrition and consumer education (EVB) to 30 stakeholders from business, politics, authorities and specialist circles. These were developed with experts as part of the round table “Future Nutrition Education”, which was initiated by f.eh. Surveys show that people often lack the nutritional knowledge and skills that promote a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. The panelists Judith Benedics (BMSGPK), Elisabeth Hauer-Banas (University of Vienna) and Katharina Koßdorff (Association of the Food and Beverage Industry) emphasized at the business breakfast that there is a joint commitment from federal, state and local politicians as well as the food industry and families needed to promote comprehensive nutrition education. The goal is to provide children and young people with knowledge and skills that enable them to lead a balanced, active and sustainable lifestyle. This creates a basis for a healthy life and benefits the entire nutrition and health system. The event was moderated by Elisabethsperre, research assistant at f.eh.

Only one in five people knows regarding the recommendation of “5 a day”, i.e. five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. Only 3 out of 10 people correctly identify fat as the most calorie-rich main nutrient. These are just two examples, but nutritional knowledge in Austria generally needs to be improved – among the general population, but also among teachers, especially since they are role models for students. This is the result of a survey by f.eh and the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Vienna. The f.eh has therefore started a round table “Future Nutrition Education” with experts from science, business, universities of education and practice, which has formulated nine recommendations for sustainable nutrition and consumer education in order to impart the necessary theoretical knowledge and corresponding skills. The basis of the recommendations is a vision of the basic skills of a young adult at the end of their school career, namely knowledge, values, action, enjoyment and reflection.

Judith Benedics referred to studies that show health disadvantages among apprentices. She therefore suggests expanding the recommendations and applying the measures to dual training. “The goal is consumers who can make good decisions for health and sustainability, have the necessary financial means to do so and move safely in the world of consumption. Important areas for conveying this are, in particular, kindergartens, schools and communal catering. We want to get all affected sectors on board,” said Benedics. Finally, a number of other everyday settings contribute to the acquisition of skills and the development of favorable eating habits. She therefore also sees opportunities for ratio prevention in retail and cites market design as well as the better presentation of fruit, vegetables and whole grain products or a varied range of dishes in communal catering that invites enjoyment and is health-promoting as possible measures. “There are many ways to influence perceptions regarding food and to model sustainable diets,” says Benedics.

Resilience thanks to education

Katharina Koßdorff and Elisabeth Hauer-Banas – themselves participants in the round table – emphasized that it is important to start with knowledge and to teach the other basic skills in a way that builds on each other and is interconnected. The social and family environment, which strongly influences eating habits, must be taken into account. Nutritional knowledge and skills should also be conveyed not only through theoretical but also practical content, says Hauer-Banas. The basis for this is equipping schools with kitchens, gardens or suitable practice rooms. When implementing the recommendations, particular attention should be paid to ensuring that technically sound content is taught. She calls for more teaching of life skills and therefore more teaching units for nutrition and consumer education.

A higher level of education promotes awareness of the complexity of the food system and makes consumers more resilient to crises. This is also relevant for the food industry, as Koßdorff emphasizes: “Consumers need to know in order to act correctly. The increasing demand for products that promote a healthy lifestyle makes it easier for the food industry to offer them. We have to respond to them Consumers’ wishes are taken into account and we cannot produce bypassing them.” For example, new products with reduced fat, salt and sugar are constantly being brought onto the market and sustainability requirements are increasingly being implemented. “School is a place where you can acquire these skills – knowledge, values, action, enjoyment and reflection – regardless of your social background. We have to move from a repair mentality to one of prevention. And to do this we have to integrate nutrition more closely get curricula,” said Koßdorff.

Benedics also advocates expanding existing platforms for quality-tested teaching materials and thus making healthy eating possible right from the start. She presented the Austrian health goals for health-promoting health policy and in particular Goal 7, which aims to make a healthy and sustainable diet accessible to everyone. As with the National Nutrition Action Plan, all affected sectors work together.

The nine recommendations at a glance:

1. Primary level (elementary school): promote interest, create connections, impart basic knowledge
2. Compulsory teaching subject in secondary school I
3. Expand nutrition and household lessons in secondary school
4. Interdisciplinary nutrition and consumer education: Supplementary under certain conditions
5. Intensify training, further education and further training for all educators
6. Make better use of the potential of all-day school forms
7. Ensure and use sound teaching materials
8. Enabling practice: improving school equipment
9. Promote lifelong learning for all people

The nine recommendations are available in a short and long version Website of f.eh available. Pictures are in Download area available.

Questions & Contact:

Forum. nutrition today
Dr. Marlies Gruber
Schwarzenbergplatz 6, 1037 Wien
Tel.: [phone] or [phone]
[e-mail]
www.forum-ernaehrung.at

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