Food (Promotion and Placement) (Scotland) Regulations 2025: Fairer Scotland Duty assessment

Summary of evidence

Diet and Health

Evidence suggests that people in lower socioeconomic status (SES) groups are at greater risk of the negative health effects of poor diet than other parts of the population in Scotland.

In 2024, approximately two out of three adults in Scotland were living with overweight or obesity (66%), and 33% of children were at risk of overweight (including obesity). This is higher than average for people from lower SES backgrounds with 71% of adults in the most deprived areas of Scotland living with overweight or obesity, compared to 61% of adults in the least deprived areas; a similar pattern is seen in children.

Evidence consistently shows that people living in areas of higher deprivation are more at risk of diet-related health inequalities. Prevalence of negative health outcomes such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer are highest in more deprived areas. People living in more deprived areas face particular challenges in consuming a healthier diet due to a lack of access to healthy, affordable food^[1]. People from lower SES groups tend to eat more HFSS foods^[2] and less vegetables and fruit.

The lowest income households tend to be lone parent households. The large majority of lone parents are women^[3] and these households tend to experience the highest levels of food insecurity rates. People experiencing poverty and food insecurity are more likely to consume cheaper, less healthy foods. This then contributes to poorer health outcomes for people experiencing poverty, which has a reinforcing effect (for example, through impacting on labour market participation).