The Ministry of Health has introduced a new nutrition profiling model to identify processed foods high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, as the country grapples with diet-related non-communicable diseases. The Nutrition Profile Model, launched on Tuesday, sets thresholds for five nutrients of concern, sugars, salt, saturated fats, trans fats and total fats.
The model aligned to the Nutrient Profile Model for the WHO African Region is expected to guide efforts to regulate the marketing of foods that exceed the recommended limits and help consumers make healthier choices. The intervention comes amid growing evidence linking the increasing consumption of processed foods to obesity and other non-communicable diseases.
The Global Burden of Disease Study has identified poor-quality diets as a leading risk factor for disease globally, while the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the increasing availability and consumption of cheap, energy-dense processed foods is contributing to rising levels of overweight, obesity and diet-related NCDs.
The trend is also evident in Africa, where diets are increasingly shifting towards processed foods high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats. A WHO study involving populations in Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa found that women with the highest consumption of processed foods were three times more likely to be overweight and more than four times as likely to be obese compared to women with the lowest consumption.
Uganda’s new model is therefore being introduced against a changing food environment in which processed foods are increasingly accessible and aggressively marketed, including to children. Dr Prospero Grace Ocheng, the Principal Nutritionist in the Ministry of Health, said the government developed the thresholds after conducting a landscape survey of processed foods in 14 districts across the country.
The assessment found that 56 percent of the processed foods examined, including crisps and other snacks, exceeded the recommended sodium limits. Forty-eight percent contained excessive levels of sugar, while 46 percent exceeded the recommended threshold for saturated fats.
Ocheng said the findings informed the classification of foods according to their nutritional profile.
Under the model, processed food with sodium content above one milligram per kilocalorie exceeds the recommended threshold, while free sugars should not exceed five percent of the total energy content in liquid products.
The model also identifies the presence of non-sugar sweeteners in processed foods and drinks as a potential health concern. The Ministry says the model is particularly important because food marketing has become increasingly sophisticated, with manufacturers using billboards, mainstream media and digital platforms to reach consumers.
Laura Ahumuza, a nutritionist in the Ministry of Health, said social media has expanded the reach of food advertising, while children are increasingly being exposed to marketing for unhealthy products. She said schools have also become important spaces for food marketing, despite children having limited ability to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy products.
The concerns are consistent with WHO evidence showing that most foods marketed to children are high in fat, free sugars or salt, and that advertising, including digital marketing, influences children’s food preferences, purchase requests and consumption patterns.
WHO has consequently recommended measures including restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy foods to children, front-of-package nutrition labelling, healthier food environments around schools and fiscal measures such as taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages. However, implementation of such measures has historically been slow, particularly in Africa.
The introduction of Uganda’s nutrition profiling model therefore marks an important step in identifying foods of concern, but it does not yet resolve the question of enforcement.
Dr Daniel Kyabayinze, the Director of Public Health in the Ministry of Health, said the model will help restrict aggressive marketing of foods that do not meet the recommended nutritional standards and urged consumers to examine food labels before purchasing products. He said nutrition information should be displayed prominently on the front of food packages to enable consumers to make informed choices.
Kyabayinze said Uganda is currently facing a double burden of malnutrition, with undernutrition existing alongside overweight and obesity. He said NCDs account for about 33 percent of deaths in the country, while 26 percent of Ugandans are living with hypertension and 3.3 percent have Type 2 diabetes. Obesity is highest among women, at 26 percent.
Despite the government’s emphasis on the new model, officials acknowledged that there is currently no legal mechanism to compel manufacturers and advertisers to comply with the nutritional thresholds. The Ministry says it is working towards a legal framework that would provide the basis for enforcement.
This leaves a significant gap between identifying unhealthy foods and actually changing the food environment in which consumers make their choices. Daniel Kamara, a private nutritionist, said the model provides consumers with a useful benchmark for identifying foods that may pose health risks.
He said although manufacturers are not yet legally required to comply with the model, it gives consumers information that can help them make better dietary choices. Experts, however, say regulation alone will not be sufficient.
They argue that the Ministry will also need to invest in widespread public education, particularly among children and families, to reduce excessive consumption of processed foods and improve nutrition literacy. They say that the challenge for Uganda is the need to move beyond identifying foods high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats to creating a food environment in which healthier choices are affordable, accessible and protected from aggressive marketing.
The success of the new model will ultimately depend on whether the government can turn its scientific thresholds into enforceable rules, and whether consumers are equipped to use the information to change their eating habits-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
