2023-05-05 12:23:31
Half of the Dutch population is overweight. An article was recently published in Trouw about this problem and the role of the industry in it. “The industry is not succeeding in reducing overweight,” says Trouw. Suzanne van Pelt, CEO and co-founder of Smart Health, a digital lifestyle platform, responds to this with the following message: ‘The business model of unhealthy products must be made more unattractive’.
‘Society is not succeeding in reducing overweight. Earning money is more important than health’, headlined Trouw last week. But making money and health can theoretically go hand in hand. Only then we have to change the system drastically.
If money is such an important driver, then I think a solution is obvious; rewarding the industry for the development of healthy products and placing an extra burden on (the production of) unhealthy products. In other words: making the business model for unhealthy products less attractive is, in my opinion, a promising way to reduce our national obesity figures and thus improve the health of the Dutch.
If money gets things moving, other solutions lie ahead. We could nudge people towards healthier habits by giving discounts or granting tax benefits to people who, for example, eat the daily 250 grams of vegetables or exercise at least 30 minutes a day, eat minimal sugar or stop smoking, drugs or alcohol . We could use the bonus points of the supermarkets to encourage people to buy healthy food.
Not getting sick should become a better business model than being sick. Unfortunately it is now the other way around. That means that as a society we have to shift the focus from reactive to preventive. We must realize that this is a much more profitable model for our society in the long run.
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