Glasgow has the lowest life expectancy of any area across Scotland, something perhaps more interesting when you consider that East Renfrewshire- geographically Glasgow’s south west neighbour, has the highest. Further to this it tops the death rates charts for heart disease across the whole of the UK.  The reason?  The phrase “Deep Fried Mars Bars” perhaps can give a clue.

Glasgow’s diet is a massive cause of concern; every street hosts multiple fast food options, from the chain restaurants at the infamous “Four corners”:  McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Tim Horton’s and KFC to the independent Fish and Chip, Indians and Chinese takeaways. It isn’t hard to see why exactly the Glaswegian diet is so poor.

This video investigates aspects of Glasgow relating to diet, the sheer number of fast food restaurants in comparison to the access to fresh local food through local markets or availability of allotments. The government has tried to confront the diet issues through the sugar taxation but with an investigation into the government’s budget of healthy eating advertisement compared with that of big confectionary and sugary drink brands, it is difficult to even suggest it has made any difference.

Key Themes: Policy, Well-being