LAUSR

Noncommunicable diseases are the main contributor to the global mortality, being responsible, as estimated, for 71% of deaths each year. About 80 of dietary dependent diseases has been identified so far, and their prevalence tends to exceed 30% in some populations. The growing prevalence of these diseases, along with impact on the quality of life, disabilities, as well as rising direct and indirect economic costs, constitute a basic foundation for emerging efforts to develop and implement new solutions within national health policies aimed at modifying dietary behaviours and reducing their negative impact on health status of individuals and populations. To address these problems the Joint Funding Action “Effectiveness of existing policies for lifestyle interventions - Policy Evaluation Network (PEN)” has been initiated, in which 28 research group across Europe are collaborating. The primary aim of the presented study will be to discuss the usage of the PEN instrument to identify best practices in food policies, including sugar sweetened beverages and junk food taxation. Previous examples of the instrument implementation will also be presented, including New Zealand, Australia and Canada, along with the results of current works on its development within the project. The second basic aspect for the study is to discuss and assess examples of food policies implemented in selected countries in terms of their effectiveness in modifying unhealthy behaviours. The time that has passed since the implementation of the evaluated solutions is too short to assess actual impact on health. Nonetheless, the existing evidence, including data from countries being the most successful examples of junk food taxation, like Mexico and Hungary, suggest that their impact on consumer choices, health literacy and also food industry in terms of food products composition, is positive.