The EU Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health

Presents an overview of the achievements of the European Union Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health in 2007. 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 148 monitoring forms that were provided by members of the Platform. Platform members are taking part in a range of activities, including: measures to improve the labelling of food products; schemes to reformulate food products; initiatives to modify the range of products available and their portion sizes; activities to address advertising and marketing; attempts to educate and inform European citizens about nutrition and physical activity in general and the health qualities of particular products; implementing workplace based programmes to improve healthy lifestyles; attempts to influence policy-makers; projects to promote participation in sport and non-sport physical activities; programmes to facilitate access to sports activities; and conducting and supporting research. The report also presents a quantitative analysis of the quality of the Platform members' monitoring practices, as represented in the 148 monitoring forms. This suggests that the monitoring being undertaken just meets a standard defined as “adequate”, indicating an overall improvement in the quality of monitoring from the previous year's monitoring progress report.