Policy and Position Statements

The latest position statement from the BDA specialist sub group

Our policy statements set out our views on an important area in nutrition and may provide guidance to researchers, regulatory agencies and policy makers, health professionals, the food industry and the media.

The ongoing supply issues surrounding pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy have progressed, meaning some people are running out of PERT, or experiencing difficulties or delays in accessing PERT.

This BDA Policy Statement provides guidance for the provision of consistent advice on food safety and food hygiene for neutropenic haematology patients.

This position statement aims to raise awareness that dietitians are central to the assessment and treatment of children and young people with ARFID.

The current UK diet does not have the right balance of food recommended for a healthy, sustainable diet. Dietitians have an important role to play in the facilitation of sustainable diets.

A position statement on complementary feeding (sometimes referred to as weaning)

The BDA believes that nobody should live in food poverty and that UK Government and local authorities must take urgent action to lift people out of food poverty and prevent others from falling into food poverty. This should include enshrining a “Right to Food” in UK law.

This position statement aims to support UK dietitians in clinical practice (in both paediatric and adult settings) to ensure tube-fed individuals receive effective, evidence-based, equitable and quality care.

Low-carbohydrate diets (i.e. defined as diets containing between 50g and 130g carbohydrate) can be effective in managing weight, improving glycaemic control and cardiovascular risk in people with Type 2 diabetes in the short term

Dietitians have the expertise both at an individual patient and strategic level to identify, assess, care plan, treat, monitor and review individuals to achieve patient-centred outcomes, and train others to prevent and treat malnutrition.

The BDA supports and welcomes the government’s current childhood obesity strategy, published in August 2016. However, the association strongly believes that additional actions are needed to reduce the unacceptably high prevalence of childhood obesity in the UK.

The BDA strongly supports breastfeeding. We recognise that breastfeeding is the optimum form of nutrition for babies and that breastfeeding protects the health of babies and their mothers.