Welcome to the Humans of Nutrition Podcast brought to you by Registered Nutritionists Anna Wheeler and Prof Danielle McCarthy.

We are delighted to introduce Dr Gillian Purdon, RNutr (Public Health), Chief Nutritionist, Public Health Nutrition, Food Standards Scotland, who is charged with delivery of statutory objectives to improve and protect public health, improve diet at population level via the collection and interpretation of population level dietary intake data (“if we don’t have the data, we have nothing to say”), then the roll out of public health messaging that is both independent and evidence-based, with a focus on prevention.

Of course, Gillian doesn’t do all this alone. Her team of nine Registered Nutritionists could be the largest team of nutrition professionals in any organisation in Scotland. Gillian and her team’s remit is broad, and the scale of the task is not lost on her – she says “When you look at people's diet, we're quite far away from where we need to be”. While campaigns can influence knowledge and opinion, they don’t always influence behaviour.

There are of course many reasons for this, and Gillian discusses the food environment and cost as being factors, putting an interesting spin on the often versed ‘healthy diets are more expensive’ by using a cost per calorie comparison – insightful!

On the hot topic of diets and sustainability, Gillian references the Climate Change Committee’s recommendations to reduce meat and dairy and reflects on how this might be implemented, while also being sensitive to health inequalities, how different population groups might be differentially affected by changes in a negative way.

We get introduced to Good Food Nation - an opportunity for the public sector to showcase what can be done at a whole food system level. https://www.nourishscotland.org/campaigns/good-food-nation-bill/

Gillian tells us about the importance of collaboration - with industry, academia, environmental science, legislators – stressing that no single body has all the levers to activate change, and understanding the unique perspectives of all stakeholders is key. We have an interesting discussion about the importance of choosing language carefully and Gillian provides a great example in her choice of words regarding supermarket promotions - “rebalance rather than restrict”.

We wrap up with words of wisdom for the nutrition professional who may be interested in a career in public health, and end with Nutrition Talent’s magic wand. What does Gillian’s preferred future look like for the health landscape of Scotland? – we’ll let you listen to find out!

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As nutrition professionals working in multiple contexts, we want to use our diverse experience to help organisations achieve their nutrition and health goals by providing them with the expertise they need, when they need it.

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