In France, dietary guidelines have been disseminated since 2001 as part of the National Health Nutrition Program (PNNS). Following the development of scientific data and recent reports from the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) and the High Council for Public Health (HCSP), the Management General Health (DGS) has tasked Public Health France with updating dietary guidelines for all populations. The new recommendations for diet, physical activity and sedentary lifestyle for adults were published in February 2019 (Delamaire et al, 2019). In September 2021, Public Health France published its new recommendations relating to children under the age of 3, available on various media as part of a communication system. Public Health France has implemented a participatory approach in order to come up with recommendations that are understandable and acceptable to parents and easily usable by professionals in their practice. These recommendations are of two complementary types: recommendations on food − but also on physical activity and a sedentary lifestyle − and advice on educational strategies for parents to help them accompany their child in the discovery of food and then the table. family. At the same time, the types of information media most suitable for disseminating these different messages have been studied. This resulted in the production of a 36-page brochure and a poster for parents with an introduction table of foods up to the child’s 3 years of age. Additional media and content have also been recommended in order to offer parents a range of tools that adapt to their information practices (leaflets, videos, website, menus, recipes) and thus develop a global communication system. A document summarizing the new recommendations has also been drawn up for health and early childhood professionals. Public Health France relied on a thematic committee bringing together early childhood professionals (health, PMI and crèche) in direct contact with the populations concerned, in particular the less well-off, as well as professionals in epidemiology, prevention and promotion of health, in information and communication, in research on the eating behavior of children. Different phases of studies with parents, including parents of so-called modest categories, but also with paediatricians who relay these recommendations, have made it possible to influence or validate the formulation choices throughout the design process. Several studies have been carried out by INRAe’s Taste and Food Science Center (CSGA) as part of the Edulia project and others have been conducted by Public Health France. Public Health France also consulted the various bodies involved in the renewal of the recommendations −DGS, ANSES and HCSP − in order to ensure that the work of popularizing the general public is consistent with the scientific bases of the opinions of ANSES and the HCSP. These new recommendations from Public Health France were the subject of a communication system in the fall of 2021.
Author : Noirot Laurence, Delamaire Corinne
Year of publication: 2022
Pages: 31p.
Collection : State of knowledge