‘Food manufacturers can add more healthy ingredients. If we innovate through the addition of vegetables, fruits and whole grains as ingredients, consumers automatically get more healthy nutrients,’ says Michael Sels, chief dietitian at Antwerp University Hospital. ‘The important thing is that consumers find the products appealing and appetising.’

‘Of course, my role here at the hospital is a curative one. When a patient is faced with a condition requiring treatment, we respond with an appropriate diet,’ continues UZA's chief dietician Michael Sels. ‘In many pathologies (Editor's note: diseases), we know that a patient recovers better and faster if they are better nourished.’ Sels tries to intervene in the debate when it comes to disease prevention.

He believes that the role of nutrition could be much more important here. The momentum is there. ‘Nutrition has sometimes become the new religion. In any religion, you have prophets and holy scriptures, and then you get extremism too. We need to resist that in the religion of nutrition, I think,’ Sels says. ‘Opinions should be tested against scientific knowledge.’

Food literacy

‘Another very big challenge is improving food literacy. When I talk to people and patients about what they can do themselves in terms of prevention, I tell them that vegetables, fruits and whole grains are good for the body. No one is ever exactly surprised. People know perfectly well that vegetables, fruit and whole grains are good for us. But if we start looking at the numbers and at the latest food consumption survey, we find that lots of people still don't get there. Only 5% of Belgians meet the nutritional guideline for vegetables and only 10% eat enough fruit,’ Sels said.

Product innovations

Here, Sels claims, lies an opportunity for food companies: a shift to a healthier diet by adding fruit, vegetables and fibre to food products that are not only tasty, but also appealing. That’s something of a turning point. ‘For over 25 years, consumers have been hearing and reading about what is wrong with their diet. In the 1990s, cholesterol, fat and trans fats were the culprits. Later on, carbohydrates from potatoes, pasta and bread were demonised.’

Marketing

However, with product innovations such as wraps or pasta, pancakes, hybrid meat with vegetables or fibre, companies are not there yet, Sels continues. ‘Food companies are going to have to work with a lot of other players and vice versa. It is not just the government making the rules, like banning soft drink machines in schools or promoting the Nutri-Score. They need marketers who give healthy products more priority in their campaigns as well. To persuade people that making healthier choices can also be fun, tasty, innovative and easy.’

Retail

Sels is also looking at the retail sector. ‘To my surprise, I’ve noticed that the shelves of cereal products contain a much lower proportion of products using wholemeal flour than white flours. What's more, these products, things like crackers, pasta or breakfast cereals, are in a lower position on the shelf. The industry should try to make such products more visible on the shelves so that consumers are more likely to see them.’