The EU Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health

Hallsworth and Ling present an overview of the achievements of the European Union Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health in 2006. The Platform was established in 2005 and brings together stakeholders from across Europe, all of whom are undertaking actions to improve the health of European citizens. The report presents the Platform’s achievements by summarising information contained in 121 monitoring forms that were provided by members of the Platform. Platform members are taking part in a range of activities. Their achievements are organised into the following sections: promoting healthy eating, healthy lifestyles, and physical activity; labelling; advertising and marketing; product development and reformulation; dissemination activities; policy development; and research into areas of relevance to the Platform. As well as presenting the Platform’s achievements, the report also analyses the quality of the Platform members’ monitoring practices, as represented in the 121 monitoring forms. This analysis identifies aspects of monitoring practices that are particularly relevant to members of the Platform and which constitute areas for improvement. The report also presents the results of a quantitative analysis of the quality of the Platform members’ monitoring practices, which indicate that the monitoring being undertaken is just below a standard defined as “adequate.”