Obesity webinar to set record straight on fat, salt and sugar

18-May-2014 - Last updated on 22-May-2014 at 10:55 GMT

Reserve your free place at our one-hour webinar by emailing michael.stones@wrbm.com

Frustrated by apparent half-truths, misrepresentations and downright falsehoods peddled in the debate about fats, sugar and salt? Then, sign up for our free, one-hour webinar, which aims to set the scientific record straight on these controversial topics.

The Food Manufacture Group has teamed up with the Institute of Food Science & Technology to assemble an expert line-up of speakers to ensure a balanced debate on the subject at 11am on Thursday July 3. Reserve your free place here.

Sound scientific evidence

The online seminar – Obesity and health: the big fat, sugar and salt debate – will move the debate away from vested interest, special pleading to a more secure footing based on independent interpretation of sound scientific evidence. It will offer an independent perspective on how these controversial topics affect the UK food and drink industry and how they are perceived by consumers and policy-makers.

Taking part will be speakers from the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), Consensus Action on Salt & Health and Action on Sugar and Leeds University. Speakers will include:

Barbara Gallani, director of the FDF’s Regulatory, science and health division
Graham MacGregor, professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine and chairman of Consensus Action on Salt & Health and Action on Sugar
Dr Charlotte Evans, lecturer in nutritional epidemiology and public health nutrition at the University of Leeds
Rod Addy, online editor FoodManufacture.co.uk, will moderate the event.

Topics under review

Topics under review will include:

• Whether voluntary measures, such as the Public Health Responsibility Deal, are the best way to achieve behavioural change or are tough new regulations linked to fats and sugar, as being considered by Labour, the only way to deliver lasting change.

• Should the food industry focus on reducing individual nutrients in food, such as fats and sugars, or should the sector take a more holistic, multi-faceted approach to obesity reduction?

• How should the food science community explain more clearly and simply to the public how different foods are produced and, what choices are available to them to counter the more sensationalist and often contradictory messages delivered by the national press and some celebrities?

• What prospects are there for using the latest marketing techniques to promote healthier lifestyles to consumers and who should pay for this?

There will be a live question and answer session at the end of the debate.To register your question in advance, email Michael.stones@wrbm.com.

Reserve your free place at the webinar here.