This section of the dashboard looks at three key children’s food policies and how well these are reaching disadvantaged children. These policies – Healthy Start, Free School Meals and the Holiday Activities and Food Programme – are in place to help support children in poverty to be able to afford and access healthy, nutritious food.
About Healthy Start:
Healthy Start is a means-tested scheme for low income pregnant women and young children, providing vitamins and payments which can be used for foods to support basic nutrition, including milk, fruit and veg. It is available to pregnant women and children under 4 years old who are receipt of qualifying benefits.
Data presented is for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has an equivalent scheme called Best Start Foods.
About Free School Meals:
The means-tested Free School Meals (FSM) Scheme is a Government programme available to some school-aged children to allow them to access a free lunch at school. Eligibility criteria vary across the four nations.
This section of the dashboard looks at the prevalence of children experiencing poverty and food insecurity – factors which impair children’s access to healthy diets. It also presents data on the impact of poor diet on children’s health, looking specifically at type 2 diabetes, dental decay, weight and growth. These impacts are all largely preventable.
Why it matters: Obesity is one of the biggest public health problems facing the UK. Living with overweight and obesity in childhood increases the risk of a number of health conditions in later life including type 2 diabetes and heart disease, reducing the quality of life of the individual, and having a huge impact on and cost to our public health service. The causes of overweight and obesity are multifactorial but the inability to afford nutritious food and unhealthy food environments are known contributing factors.
Why it matters: Being food secure means being sure of your ability to secure enough food of sufficient quality and quantity to be able to stay healthy and participate in society. Food insecurity has varying degrees of severity. Early stages involve worrying about whether there will be enough food, followed by compromising quality, variety and quantity of food. Going without food and experiencing hunger are the most severe stages. Children who are exposed to food insecurity are more likely to face adverse health outcomes and developmental risk. Food hardship among children also predicts impaired academic performance, and is positively associated with experiencing shame, and behavioural problems.
Why it matters: Living in poverty greatly increases the risk of food insecurity. A healthy diet is unaffordable for households with insufficient incomes.
Technical note:
Households are living in poverty if their household income (adjusted to account for household size) is less than 60% of the median. All poverty rates for the England map are calculated on an after-housing costs (AHC) basis and shown at constituency level. Data is from 2020/21.
Why it matters: Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the body cannot process glucose (sugar) properly. Obesity is a major risk factor for the development of this condition. It was previously known as adult-onset diabetes but is being increasingly seen in children. If not managed, diabetes has serious consequences and can lead to damage of the nerves resulting in blindness, kidney damage, amputations, heart disease and stroke. Type 2 diabetes is largely preventable through having a healthy diet.
Technical note:
Data on prevalence and deprivation are from the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit 2020/21 conducted by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. The report provides an analysis of data submitted by healthcare professionals caring for children and young people with diabetes in England and Wales from all Paediatric Diabetes Units capturing information on children and young people up to the age of 24 who are under the care of a consultant paediatrician. Prevalence and/or incidence rates of type 2 diabetes cannot be accurately calculated from NPDA data as an unknown number of children and young people are treated for type 2 diabetes in primary care and will therefore not be included in the paediatric audit. All that can be concluded is that there are year-on-year increases in the number of children and young people with Type 2 diabetes being managed within PDUs. Deprivation quintiles are based on IMD and WIMD.
Why it matters: Dental decay can be caused by consuming high sugar foods and drinks. Dental decay in children is an important public health issue as it leads to pain, distress, and time off school – and off work for parents. Tooth decay is now the number one reason for hospital admissions among young children.
Source:
– England: Oral health survey for 5-year-old children 2019
– Scotland: National Dental Inspection Programme 2020
– Wales: Survey of five year olds oral health 2015-16
– Northern Ireland: Child Dental Health Survey 2015
Technical note:
England – Data are from the Oral health survey for 5-year-old children 2019 conducted by Public Health England published in March 2020. These results are from the National Dental Epidemiology Programme biennial survey which took place in the academic year 2018/19. The prevalence of experience of dental decay refers to the percentage of children with one or more teeth with visually obvious dental decay experience (d3mft>0).
Scotland – Data are from the National Dental Inspection Programme conducted by Public Health Scotland published in October 2020. This survey took place in the academic year 2019/20 and looked at children in P1 which is children aged 4.5 years to 5.5 years. The prevalence of dental decay refers to the percentage of children with one or more teeth with visually obvious dental decay experience (d3mft>0).
Wales – Data are from the Survey of five year olds oral health 2015-16 conducted by the Welsh Oral Health Information Unit published in June 2017. This survey took place in the academic year 2015/16. The prevalence of dental decay refers to the percentage of children with one or more teeth with visually obvious dental decay experience (d3mft>0).
Northern Ireland – Data are from the Child Dental Health Survey conducted by the NHS published in March 2015. This survey took place in the academic year 2013/14 and looked at children aged 5 years old. The prevalence of dental decay refers to the percentage of children with one or more teeth with visually obvious dental decay experience.
Why it matters: Whether children reach their full height potential is an indicator of nutritional status and the environment in which they are growing up.
This section of the dashboard presents data on the proportion of children meeting dietary recommendations for health and how this varies across income groups.
Why is matters: Childhood is a time of rapid growth and development. Sufficient nutrition is crucial during this time. Dietary recommendations for children give an indication of what nutrients children need to ensure optimal health and wellbeing. Exceeding the recommendations of unhealthy foods or not meeting the recommendations for healthy foods can increase the risk of poor health and the development of disease.
Technical note:
Consumption data were calculated from analysing results of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Data from NDNS years 5&6 (2012/13 to 2013/14) and 7&8 (2014/15 to 2015/16) were combined to maximise sample size, applying the household income cut-offs and selecting children aged under 19 years.
We used these data to estimate:
- The proportion of children in the UK exceeding the current guidance on sugar (years 7&8 only), salt (year 5 only) and saturated fat consumption.
- The proportion of children in the UK not reaching the current guidance on fibre (years 7&8 only), fruit and vegetables and oily fish consumption.
Age ranges the data refer to are:
- Saturated fat: >5 years
- Free sugars: >2 years
- Salt: from 4 years
- Fruit and veg: > 11 years
- Fibre (AOAC): from 2 years
- Oily fish: all ages
Why is matters: Childhood is a time of rapid growth and development. Sufficient nutrition is crucial during this time. Dietary recommendations for children give an indication of what nutrients children need to ensure optimal health and wellbeing. Exceeding the recommendations of unhealthy foods or not meeting the recommendations for healthy foods can increase the risk of poor health and the development of disease.
This section of the dashboard draws on evidence from The Food Foundation’s flagship annual Broken Plate report, which explores how our food environments influence what we eat through what we can afford and access.
Why it matters: When we decide what to buy, we’re influenced by what we can afford. Many people in the UK have insufficient incomes due to low or precarious wages, as well as high outgoing costs of housing and other essentials. This means that very little money is left over after bills are paid, with the food budget often the easiest one to cut. Skipping meals or opting for the cheapest options – which are often the least healthy – has to suffice.
Why it matters: Our food choices are influenced by what’s available in our local area. Living in areas with lots of takeaway outlets is linked to the likelihood of being at a higher weight. People are understandably more likely to eat food which is convenient and readily available.
Why it matters: Advertising and marketing mean that before we even decide what to eat, we’re influenced by mass media. People are constantly confronted with advertising for less healthy foods on social media, online and on TV, and evidence shows this has a direct impact on how much we eat of these foods.
Why is matters: Our choices of what to eat and what to feed our children are influenced by the options available, not all of which are healthy. Many products we routinely see on shelves are too high in fat, salt and sugar. Cereals and yogurts marketed to children are prime examples of this.
This Children’s Right2Food Dashboard offer users a comprehensive picture of children’s food across England by bringing together data from multiple sources. It particularly focusses on dietary and health inequalities.
The dashboard helps users visualise children’s consumption patterns, and their food environments that determine what children eat and have access to. It presents what policies and programmes are in place across the UK intended to support children to eat well, and how effective these are. Users can track the progress of these policies to see how effective government intervention has been on improving children’s access to food and healthy diets.
The dashboard presents a variety of indicators of diet-related health outcomes. It reveals trends over time and drills down into the status of children’s health in relation to deprivation, ethnicity and location.
To our knowledge, this is the first dashboard that presents UK data across various components of children’s food policy together in one place.
As a one-stop visual platform for reliable data and statistics, the dashboard explains a complex picture of public policy for children’s food with the intention of informing evidence-based decisions to drive forward improvements in children’s health and diets.
The dashboard can be used by anyone interested or involved in children’s food policy. This may include:
- Policy makers at country or local level
- Business leaders
- Civil Society Organisations
- Researchers, academics and students
- General public
The dashboard looks at five key themes related to children’s food:
1. Government Programmes
This section looks at two key children’s food policies – Healthy Start and Free School Meals – and how well these are reaching those in need.
2. Impact on children
This section looks at the prevalence of poverty and food insecurity in children, and the impact of poor diet on children’s health (diabetes, dental decay, weight and growth).
3. What children eat
This section contains information on the proportion of children meeting dietary recommendations for health and how this varies across income groups
4. Food environments
This section draws on evidence from The Food Foundation’s Broken Plate report, which explores how our food environments influence what we eat through what we can afford and access, and how we’re influenced.
The four key themes can be seen down the left-hand column of the dashboard. Within each of these themes, tabs for each subcategory can be seen along the top.
Data has been pooled from multiple sources – this includes government and public health sources, as well as The Food Foundation’s own research and reporting.
This dashboard has been created by The Food Foundation with thanks to funding support from Impact on Urban Health.
For further information on the dashboard, to give us feedback on what you would like to see added to the dashboard, or let us know how you are using the data, please contact: shona.goudie@foodfoundation.org.uk
