Diet and health conditions

Maintaining a healthy, balanced diet will support your body and can help reduce your risk of diet related disease

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How your diet can affect your health

Eating too many foods which are high in fat, salt and sugar and not enough fruit, vegetables and whole grains can increase your risk of a number of illnesses, such as cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Our food environment, which promotes cheap, high fat, salt and sugar foods over fruit, vegetables, oily fish and wholegrain foods, which are better for us, contributes to us taking in more calories than we need. Consuming more calories than your body needs can lead to weight gain over time.

Living with excess weight can increase your risk of developing a number of serious health issues. Currently, around two-thirds of adults in Scotland are living with either overweight or obesity.

If you’re worried about your weight, you can calculate your BMI (body mass index) using a BMI calculator. For many people it is a useful indicator of whether they are a healthy weight or not.

around 40% of cancers are preventable through lifestyle changes, including eating a healthy diet and achieving and maintaining a healthy weight
eating lots of red and processed meat, drinking too much alcohol and carrying excess weight, increases your risk of a number of different types of cancer
eating more fruit, vegetables, oily fish and wholegrain foods can reduce your risk of certain types of cancer

choosing unsweetened food and drinks, and eating more fruit, vegetables, oily fish and wholegrain foods are ways that you can make changes to your diet to reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes
carrying excess weight, especially around your middle, increases your risk of developing type 2 diabetes
if you're living with excess weight or obesity, any amount of weight loss can help to reduce your risk

too much sugar causes tooth decay, particularly when eaten between meals, as sugar causes more damage the longer it is contact with teeth
eating less sugar and reducing your intake between meals can help reduce your risk of tooth decay

consuming too much fat, salt and alcohol can increase your risk of developing heart conditions, including coronary heart disease and stroke
carrying excess weight can lead to a fatty build up in your arteries, raise your blood pressure and your cholesterol levels
eating better over time to help you reach and maintain a healthy weight can reduce your risk of heart disease

Learn more about healthy eating

Our Healthy Eating tutorial can help you understand what a healthy diet looks like, why it’s important, and what help is available to achieve it. There is also an optional assessment module and provided you pass you will receive a certificate.

Visit the Healthy Eating Tutorial

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Diet and health conditions

How your diet can affect your health

Learn more about healthy eating

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