The UK’s food environment
Issue 66 l Eka’s Weekly Roundup (15 March 2024)
We recently discovered the National Food Strategy review from 2021, which takes the pulse of the UK’s food environment. We pull out a few key charts below to give you a sense of how where we live impacts what food we see, and over time therefore our health outcomes.
At Eka, we view nutrition and the food environment as a key determinant of health, and backed Believe in Science which is focussed on producing healthier baked goods.
Taking a look at the impact of the food environment on health outcomes 🗞️
1. Food impacts a high number of the years lost due to avoidable ill health & death
A high number of lost years of healthy life are caused by food & diet related issues. These include high-fasting plasma glucose, dietary risks, high BMI, and high systolic blood pressure.
2. Children in the poorest areas of England are significantly shorter than those in the richest areas
These children are both fatter and shorter than those in the richest areas, already at the ages of 10-11. This impact is also seen at the national level: the average UK 5 year old is shorter than their peers in nearly all other high-income western countries.
3. People living in the most deprived decile are almost twice as likely to die from all preventable causes, compared to those in the richest decile
People in the most deprived decile are 2.1 times more likely to die from preventable heart disease; 1.7 times more likely to die from preventable cancer; and 3 times more likely to have tooth decay at age 5.
The impact flows through generations. Their children are nearly twice as likely to be overweight or obese at age 11.
4. This is the killer chart - capital costs, opportunity costs, and mental load all impact how diet shifts depending on socioeconomic background
Cooking has some opportunity & capital costs. For example, there are currently an estimated 1.9 million people in the UK living without a cooker, 2.8 million people without a freezer, and 900,000 people without a fridge.
5. A clear and material correlation between poverty and the density of fast-food outlets
For example, one deprived area in North- West England has 230 fast food outlets for every 100,000 people. The England-wide average is 96 - more than 2x smaller than North-West England.
Around 3 million people cannot reach any food stores selling raw ingredients within 15 minutes by public transport, and 40% of the lowest income households lack access to a car.
6. The threshold to access free school meals is too low compared to where the need is.
Here’s a quick primer for those not familiar with the UK’s free school meals. In the first two years of school (Reception to Year 2), all children receive free school meals (FSM). Then, the eligibility threshold is set at an annual household income of less than £7,400 before benefits.
The NFS found that increasing the threshold to £20k of earnings would ensure that 82% of children with “very low food security” would now have access to free school meals
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Week in Impact Articles ✍🏽
Monday: TikTok Is Treating Ozempic Side Effects as Untrained Doctors Dole Out Prescriptions
Tuesday: Beyond the hype: New opportunities for gen AI in energy and materials
Wednesday: European climate fintech show resilience amidst global downturn
Thursday: Spring Budget includes £3.4billion extra investment in NHS digitisation
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