WEEKLY consumption of takeaways has increased substantially across all age groups in Scotland amid concerns over the impact of the pandemic on eating habits.
Research by Obesity Action Scotland found that half (49 per cent) of young adults aged 25 to 34 were eating takeaways at least once a week in 2021, up from 27% in 2020.
Even among over-65s, the proportion consuming takeaways at least once a week tripled from 5% to 14% between 2020 and 2021.
It comes as separate research by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) showed that demand for takeaways and home deliveries of fast food such as pizzas and curries had already increased substantially in 2020 as a result of lockdown and restrictions on restaurant trading.
In 2020, FSS found that takeaway trips doubled in Scotland by around 21 million compared to 2019, with the increase mainly driven by orders placed through restaurant apps - up 103% - or by third party online apps, such as Deliveroo and JustEat, which climbed by 69%.
The report by FSS also found that the total volume of groceries purchased in store and online in Scotland increased year-on-year by 8% in 2020, with “an increase in the amount of fat, sugar and salt in our shopping baskets in comparison to previous years” and snack items such as confectionary “contributing considerably to energy and total sugar purchase throughout 2020”.
The research by Obesity Action Scotland indicates that unhealthy eating patterns continued into 2021, with 65% of adults aged 16 to 24 surveyed in March 2021 saying they were eating more “out of boredom” than they had been at the start of the pandemic.
Among people with worsening mental health, the figure was 67%.
People with children or who were working from home were also more susceptible to boredom eating, but nearly all age groups perceived their diet to have worsened since May 2020.
Half (49%) of women and 44% of men said they had gained weight since March 2020.
Lorraine Tulloch, Programme Lead of Obesity Action Scotland said:“All the signs are that control measures for the pandemic made a bad situation worse for children’s weight, for the diet of families, and for inequalities in health across a range of conditions.
"We urgently need bold, effective, progressive and sustained measures across governments, communities and places where we buy and consume food to get back on track in tackling this important issue.”
Dr Gillian Purdon, head of nutrition science and policy at FSS, said: “Both organisations’ findings show that there has been a concerning shift in the nation’s eating habits and highlight that discretionary products continue to represent too high of a proportion of the food and drinks purchased into the home.”
The Scottish Government paused planned junk food legislation but has pledged to consult on mandatory calorie labelling for the out-of-home sector, and to introduce a Public Health bill in this parliament which will include restrictions on sales promotions of foods high in fat, sugar or salt.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel