A proposed dietary policy package for the health sector in Iran

Abstract

BackgroundInsufficient physical inactivity and an unhealthy diet are significant health risk factors globally. Dietary risk factors were responsible for approximately 16.5% of all deaths in Iran in 2019. This paper aimed to propose a dietary policy package for the health sector to reduce the risk of an unhealthy diet, which might effectively help prevent and control non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Iran.MethodsIn this qualitative study, we conducted semi-structured, face-to-face, and in-depth interviews with 30 purposefully selected experts, including policymakers, high-level managers, and relevant stakeholders, during 2018–2019 in Iran. All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically analyzed, facilitated by MAXQDA 11 software.ResultsWe developed several dietary recommendations for different stakeholders. These include traffic light labeling reforms, i.e., the need to make the signs large and readable enough through utilizing advanced technology, cooperation with other sectors, promoting healthy symbols and supporting food products with them, food basket reforms, updating dietary standards, adopting appropriate mechanisms to report violations of harmful products laws, scaling up mechanisms to monitor restaurants and processed foods, and creating an environment for ranking restaurants and other relevant places to support a healthy diet, for instance through tax exemption, extra subsidies for healthy products, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) alliances, and using influential figures.ConclusionIran’s health sector has developed a practical roadmap for the prevention and control of NCDs through promoting healthy nutrition. In line with the sustainable development goal (SDG) 3.4 pathway to reduce premature mortality due to NCDs by 30% by 2030 in Iran, we advocate for the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME) to adopt appropriate evidence-informed interventions for improving public health literacy and reducing consumption of unhealthy food.