Inequity, obesity levels and affordability of health food should be top priorities for the National Food Strategy

The Broken Plate report released today from The Food Foundation shows the state of our current food system and the huge challenges we face in ensuring that everyone in the UK can afford and access a healthy and sustainable diet.

The Food Foundation say that the National Food Strategy, due out this month, needs to urgently address growing obesity levels, dietary inequality, and critically low levels of veg consumption in children and adults.

The Broken Plate report funded by the Nuffield Foundation, shows that the impact of our food system continues to be hugely unequal, with children from the poorest 10% of households being ten times more likely to be living with severe obesity than the richest 10% at age 11.

The report examines ten different areas and provides us with a ‘state of the nation’ view of how broken our current food system is.

In the most deprived local authorities, 1 in 3 places to buy food are fast food outlets. This compares with 1 in 5 in least deprived.

Amputations due to Diabetes have increased by 24% in the past 5 years. There are almost 10,000 diabetes-related amputations carried out on average per year.

More healthy food is three times more expensive than less healthy food calorie for calorie. Foods high in sugar and fat are just 40% of the cost of fruit and veg per 1,000 calories.

The poorest 5^th of UK households would have to spend 40% of their disposable income on food to meet the government’s Eatwell Guide compared to just 7% for the richest fifth of households.

Broken Plate uses ten metrics to provide a powerful picture of the current UK food system and the lack of progress made to improve food security, obesity levels and sustainability. This year’s Broken Plate report is the third in the series, tracking UK progress in changing the food environment so that diets can transition towards more healthy and sustainable outcomes.

The report is published ahead of the National Food Strategy led by Henry Dimbleby, which is expected to contain strong and urgent recommendations to government.

The Broken Plate report clearly shows that we need government and policy makers to regulate for structural changes if we are going to improve the UK’s food environment and ensure that every adult and child has access to a healthy and sustainable diet.

Critical levels of obesity, dietary inequality, and an increasingly obesogenic food environment are amongst the many metrics highlighted in the report which has been produced in collaboration with Eating Better, Action on Sugar, Neilsen, The Resolution Foundation, CEDAR and Feat at the University of Cambridge, Food DB at the University of Oxford, and University of Leeds and funded by the Nuffield Foundation.

By the time they’re 65 years old, over half of the children born in 2021 will experience diet-related disease which may affect their quality of life. Whether children are born into richer or poorer households greatly impacts on their risk of obesity as well as limiting life expectancy. Those in the most deprived decile (the poorest 10%) are ten times more likely to be living with severe obesity at age 11 than those in the least deprived decile.

Anna Taylor, Executive Director at the Food Foundation said: “With the National Food Strategy just around the corner and the task of rebuilding post pandemic now underway, there has never been a more opportune time for the government and businesses to face the challenge of fixing our food environment head on. Bold action will be required if we are to safeguard the future health of our children – but is by no means impossible. This year’s Broken Plate report highlights that our current food environment is failing to deliver diets that are just, healthy or sustainable with this having very real health implications for millions of citizens.”

Laura Sandys CBE, Chair of Trustees at the Food Foundation said: “The Food Foundation publishes the Broken Plate every year to monitor the state of the food system. This is a crucial report to monitor how it is today and will in the future impact citizens. Some of this year’s finding are quite shocking and sets us all a big challenge for this year ahead, particularly those who work to change public policy and industry ambition for the benefit of consumers. Coming out of the pandemic requires us all to double our efforts to halt and reverse these extremely concerning findings.”

Professor Sir Michael Marmot said: “Improving healthy eating requires, at the minimum, an understanding of influences on nutrition and its consequences; and monitoring of progress. Broken Plate does both of these admirably and fulfils an urgent national need. It charts not only national trends – shockingly, five-year old children in the UK are shorter than in all but one of the rich countries – but inequalities. Given the unaffordability of healthy food for those on low incomes it is perhaps no surprise that by age 4-6, children in the most deprived fifth of households have strikingly higher rates of obesity than children in the least deprived fifth.”

The Food Foundation’s Broken Plate report sets out what needs to change in the UK’s food environment in order to give everyone access to a healthy and affordable diet. By tracking progress year on year, it is providing a comprehensive account of the extent of dietary inequalities and their consequences, as well as the links with other health and economic inequities. The report provides a powerful evidence base that challenges government and industry to provide a comprehensive policy and practice response if we are to improve people’s health and well-being.” Tim Gardam, Chief Executive of the Nuffield Foundation