27 January 2026

ADPH welcomes updated NPM

We have welcomed an update to the Nutrient Profiling Model, which sets standards and incentivises the food and drink industry to improve the healthiness of the foods sold to consumers.

The current NPM is more than 20 years old and does not reflect dietary advice. The new model, which was promised as part of the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan, works as a tool to determine what are ‘less healthy foods and drinks’ by calculating the beneficial and less beneficial nutrients in these products. It classifies foods and drinks based on nutritional composition, not processing level. The model identifies products higher in energy, free sugars, saturated fat and salt as ‘less healthy’ and has a lower threshold for free sugars – including added sugars and those naturally present in syrups, honey, and unsweetened fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies, purées and pastes – and a higher threshold for fibre.

The Government has estimated that by applying the updated model to the current junk food advertising and promotion restrictions, childhood obesity can be reduced by up to another 170,000 cases – on top of the existing health benefits of these policies.

Sarah Perman, policy lead for obesity for the Association of Directors of Public Health, said:

“Today’s update to the Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM) is long overdue and provides us with an important tool to help classify products as healthier or less healthy, which also means that the new advertising restrictions will apply to a much wider range of food and drink. This is important because we know that advertising drives sales and consumption of unhealthy products, which in turn contributes to increasing numbers of people experiencing a range of largely preventable illness and disease.”

The next stage is for a full public consultation on the application of the new NPM to the advertising and promotion restrictions later this year, ahead of any legislative change.