Monitoring changes in the food and nutrient intake of a nation is important for informing the design and evaluation of policy. Surveys of household food consumption have been carried out annually in the UK since 1940 and, despite some changes over the years 1940–2000, the method used for the Expenditure and Food Survey (Living Costs and Food Survey from 2008) has been fundamentally the same since 2001. Using these surveys an analytical procedure was devised to compare food consumption and nutrient intake in Scotland with the Scottish dietary targets, and monitor change. This method takes into account contributions to composite foods and losses due to food preparation, as well as inedible and edible waste. There were few consistent improvements in consumption of foods or nutrients targeted for change over the period 2001–9. A significant but small increase was seen in mean fruit and vegetable consumption (259 g/d in 2001, 279 g/d in 2009, equating to an increase of less than 3 g/person per year). There was also a significant decrease in the percentage of food energy from SFA (15·5 % in 2001, 15·1 % in 2009) and from non-milk extrinsic sugars (15·5 % in 2001, 14·8 % in 2009), concurrent with a reduction in whole milk consumption and soft drink consumption, respectively. These small changes are encouraging, but highlight the time taken for even modest changes in diet to occur. To achieve a significant impact on the health of the present Scottish population, the improvements in diet will need to be greater and more rapid.

Thirty-six normal-weight, habitual snackers (eighteen males, eighteen females) completed a medium-term intervention study designed to examine the tendency of four different types of snacks, varying in nutrient (low- (LF) or high-fat (HF)) and sensory properties (sweet (SW) or non-sweet (NSW)), to influence the control of appetite and to adjust daily energy intake. Subjects were exposed to each snack category for a 3-week period and were asked to consume a minimum number of snacks each day so that at least 25% of their daily energy intake would be derived from the test snacks. Energy and macronutrient intakes from the test snacks were calculated every day and also from other eating episodes (using 3 d food diary records) during the third week of snack exposure. Subjects consumed more energy/d from the SW snacks than from the NSW snacks, with most energy being consumed from the HF/SW snacks (3213 kJ) and least energy from the LF/NSW snacks (1628 kJ). This differential snack intake remained stable across the whole snack exposure period. Total daily energy intake did not differ significantly during exposure to any of the four snack types. Furthermore, the encouragement to eat freely from the test snacks did not lead to daily overconsumption of energy when compared with pre-study intakes. Hence, the level of snack consumption was largely compensated for by the energy consumed from the rest of the eating pattern. Although daily energy intake during exposure to the HF snacks was an average of 364 kJ higher (NS) than that during exposure to the LF snacks, the clearest and most significant effect of snack consumption was on daily macronutrient intake. Appreciable consumption of the HF snacks raised the percentage of total daily energy intake consumed as fat from 37 to 41% (P < 0.01). In contrast, the LF snacks reduced daily fat intake to 33.5% (LF/SW, P < 0.05; LF/NSW, NS) of total daily energy. The results, therefore, suggest that, in habitual snackers, generous consumption of LF snacks, when compared with HF snacks, is an effective strategy to reduce fat intake so that it approaches the recommendations of dietary guidelines without increasing total daily energy intake.