Nutrition habits

The nutrition habits of the Hungarian population is characterised by excessive intakes of energy, fat, animal fat, cholesterol, added sugar and salt, and insufficient intake of dietary fibres insufficient consumption of vegetables and fruits, as well as consumption of less than the desirable amounts of whole-meal cereal. The daily average energy intake is much higher than the ideal value in the case of men, and it is especially typical for those belonging to younger age groups. In the case of women, among whom the energy intake is also higher than the desired figure, there is no significant correlation with age. The excess energy intake of men also involves consumption of alcoholic drinks.

In Hungary, the guidelines for healthy nutrition are based on the principles of food and nutrition policy, representing one of its subprogrammes.

• continuous monitoring of the dietary habits of the population, regular analysis of the results, assessment of the dietary characteristics and nutrition level of the population;
• education for healthy nutrition,
• development of public catering in such a spirit,
• indication of national nutrition priorities,
• giving priority to the promotion of foodstuffs with more favourable composition, and supply of information for consumers on the product labels.

As a result of improving dietary habits through the measures, experts hope that the average serum cholesterol level will decrease by 7-10% among the adult population, the frequency of overweight and obesity will not increase, and the incidence of Type 2 diabetes will not be higher than that of developed countries, there will be a decrease in the number of nutritional deficiency and mortality caused by severe diseases related to nutrition will drop by 5%. The national nutrition policy, which aims at relying on co-operation with other specific areas (for example, paediatrics, pediatric dentistry, food industry) is intended to serve this purpose.

Overweight and obesity

Obesity is the number one public health problem in Hungary too, affecting more than 1.5 million people, with further 2.7 million people being overweight. Recently, especially the proportion of obese individuals has increased, primarily among women. Overweight is more frequent among men aged less than 40 years, and approximately half of men in this age-group are overweight. Over the age of 65, the proportion of obese people is declining, but it is only a seemingly favourable phenomenon, because as a result of obesity related disease, obese people reach an older age more rarely than their peers of ordinary weight.

Physical activity

One of the reasons for the unfavourable health status of the population is lack of physical exercise. The physical activity of the population in leisure time is not more than 10 minutes a day. Active income earners do the least amount of physical exercises, and their passivity is closely related to the lack of leisure time, which is the result of their efforts to maintain their living standards.

In order to encourager the whole population to do physical exercises regularly, there is a need for intersectoral co-operation, more intensive training and education, training of health professionals in topics related to this field, and monitoring of the physical performance of the population with internationally accepted methods. According to the strategies concerning this area, apart from the measures of political decision-makers, the media should also have a more intensive role in the wider dissemination of the culture of physical fitness.

Smoking

Smoking is the most important risk factor underlying avoidable and premature death, which should be considered a serious endemic disease from a public health point of view. According to the Central Statistical Office, the death of 28,000 people may be attributed to smoking each year in Hungary (2002).
At the end of the 1990s, the mortality in the age group of 15-64 years related to smoking was nearly 2.5 times higher than the European Union average, and twice as high as the average of all European countries. In Europe, mortality caused by lung cancer (the disease in strongest relation with smoking) is the highest in Hungary, and the figure keeps increasing.

Reduction of smoking is the number one area of intervention in the public health programme, within which outstanding attention is devoted to the efforts to prevent young people from taking up the habit. The set target is 8% reduction in cigarette consumption by 2005 (in 1999, 2,400 cigarettes/year/person, EU: 1,600), and the reduction of the proportion of regular smokers by 6% by 2010.

One of the instruments in the fight against smoking is the high excise duty content of tobacco products, the amount of which is determined in a directive in the European Union. The government received derogation in reaching this level until 2009.

Alcohol consumption

Alcoholism is a serious health problem in Hungary. In 2000, mortality due to excessive alcohol consumption was more than three times as high as the European Union average for males, and two and a half times higher in the case of females. However, it is a positive factor that the gradual increase of mortality due to alcohol consumption between 1980 and 1995 was followed by a moderate decrease after 1995.
According to the latest surveys, 19.2% of men and 5.1% of women are heavy drinkers, but due to methodological reasons, the actual data are most probably higher than that. Abstinence is decreasing in the case of both sexes, although more significantly among women. In the 1990s, the age group most at-risk was the group aged 50-59 years. The most important positive factor of the last ten years is that in the second half of the 1990s there was a significant decline in the alcohol consumption of people aged 30-39 years. However, a negative phenomenon is that consumption increased in secondary schools, especially among girls. This phenomenon is not just a Hungarian feature. In international comparison, alcohol consumption of secondary school students is not high for the time being. Another negative phenomenon is that problem drinking is more and more typical of young people. These days alcohol consumption cannot clearly be attributed to a disadvantaged social position, it is increasingly present in all groups of the society.

Alcohol prevention is second to the fight against smoking among the interventions in the relevant health policy program. The policy sets the target of significant reduction of per capita alcohol consumption first (until 2008), followed by considerable reduction (by 2012). Another target is a significant and measurable reduction of psycho-social problems caused by alcohol (including primarily the detrimental impacts on the family and children raised within the family, and alcohol related accidents), as well as significant reduction of the frequency and volume of alcohol consumption by youths.

Drug use

The government ordered a survey first in 1994 which tried to collect detailed data about drug use. As a result of this survey, more or less adequate data have been available since 1995, but it needs to be pointed out that, due to numerous statistical methodological problems, the evaluation of drug use data requires a lot of caution, more than in other areas of the health sector.

According to 2002 data, around 12,700 drug addicts have been treated in health institutes since 1999 (12,000 in 2001). There are more or less twice as many men among them as women. It is a special feature that between 1995 and 1998 the ratio of drug types (licit and illicit) turned around. In this period the proportion of those using legal substances dropped from 67% to 35%, and those consuming illegal substances increased from 33% to 65%. Among the illegal drugs, the consumption of opiates has been the highest all the time and it is still increasing. The number of cannabis (marihuana) users increased from 3% to 11% between 1995 and 1999, with a subsequent drop to 6.9% between 2000 and 2001. Cocaine consumption was low, and practically stagnated between 1995 and 2000, representing only 1.7% of the treated patients. The consumption of hallucinogens was even lower, although there was a 13% in crease in consumption in 2001.

Licit drugs include organic solvents and sedatives, and abuse of sleeping pills. A special type of the abuse of sleeping pills consists of taking them together with alcohol (polytoxicomania).

In the second half of the 1990s, the joint life prevalence of illicit drugs and inhalants nearly doubled, and increased from 10% to 19% among second-year secondary school students. The increase, which took place in the second half of the decade, was much higher than the national average in Budapest, increasing from 12.0% to 28.8% between 1996 and 1998. In 1999, only marihuana and amphetamine consumption increased, and then it practically stagnated, although on the basis of the latest survey conducted in spring 2002, the consumption of a few substances, including extasy, LSD, cocaine and cannabis derivatives is expected to increase.

Structural and quality changes accompanied the aggravation of the problem in the second half of the 1990s. Intensity of consumption increased, and the first illicit drug use takes place among younger and younger people. The dominant age of the first attempts dropped from 16 years to 15 years. The changes of the volume and intensity of consumption were accompanied by a change in the structure of substances: marihuana and various synthetic party drugs have become more and more popular in youths. Girls, at least in Budapest, have practically "caught up" with boys.

In 1995, illicit substances also occurred beside licit substances in mortality statistics related to drugs, but the data can only be accepted with caution and reservation. The number of deaths due to drugs has not changed significantly during the lasts few years. Seventy percent of all deaths were registered in Budapest.