Malnutrition in England

True - I hovered as I typed that🙂

Calipso

I'm surprised that anyone is surprised.
Until the Government start to tackle the hugely complex issue of Ultra Highly Processed foods which play a huge role in malnutrition, it matters little how much money is poured into the NHS and the population in general will become more and more unwell. Their starting point needs to be WHY is there so much ill health and to work from there.

I agree. We keep hearing that good food is too expensive. Some is, of course, but there are plenty of nutritious food options that are cheaper than the UPFoods.
The trouble is that parents are either too busy or don’t have the cooking skills to prepare them.
I have heard that many poor families can’t afford to put the oven on.perhaps we should be donating air fryers, microwaves and slow cookers to the food banks.

Wow, there's an awful lot of victim blaming above - what else can we expect on GN? How come so many people have recently decided to be silly and not eat properly?

Glorianny

Whitewavemark2

Yes and checkups by the doctor with nurse in attendance and mum. Stripped to our knickers weighed, chest listened to, teeth checked, feet and hands checked.

Perhaps a compromise would be checks in areas of deprivation, of which there is quite a lot in all areas of the country.

I wouldn't be so quick to consider that it is deprived children who are the only ones suffering. Cases of rickets were first reported by dentists who recognised the unusual (and littled seen by medics) symptoms in the middle class and cared for children who had been carefully screened from the sun, since birth, by their protective parents. All children should be routinely checked.

Yes.
There have been cases of rickets in Australia in children of families which are not poor and care for their children - making sure they carry out the message of Slip-Slop-Slap.

Hetty58

Wow, there's an awful lot of victim blaming above - what else can we expect on GN? How come so many people have recently decided to be silly and not eat properly?

Couldn't agree with you more.

(sigh)

There are 28 million households in the UK and of those 2 million are classified as being in poverty. The vast majority of homes have cookers they can afford to use and enough money to provide their household with nutritious meals.

At the beginning of the period of inflation the internet and media were awash with recipes for inexpensive and nourishing dishes.

Until I see a breakdown of the malnutrition figures, so know which groups are most likely to be in danger of health problems rising from malnutrition, it is impossible to suggest any solutions.

Sustainable Development Goals in the UK follow up: Hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity in the UK

This was written by a Commons Select Committee in 2018.

publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/1491/149105.htm

Food insecurity is a major problem.

It is not so visible as it was when we were growing up. I remember some very thin kids with snot hanging from their noses, pale as death but you don’t see that so much now. I think a lot is amongst very elderly persons living in nursing homes. Not necessarily because they aren’t offered food but because of economies they are given unsuitable food which they don’t want and can’t eat.

It’s not lack of available nutrition that is the problem, other issues are causing malnutrition, eating disorders, neglect, homelessness, lack of cooking facilities. Ample calories and protein can be bought cheaply, too many calories is a much greater problem than too few.

From the link posted by growstuff

the first graph shows the level of children under 15 growing up in a moderate or severely food insecure household.

The second represents children under 15 growing up in a severely food insecure household.

So those blaming the household - what is different about the U.K. households to those others doing better?

Katie59

It’s not lack of available nutrition that is the problem, other issues are causing malnutrition, eating disorders, neglect, homelessness, lack of cooking facilities. Ample calories and protein can be bought cheaply, too many calories is a much greater problem than too few.

This outlines the issue

The Times is reporting this.

Provisional data obtained by the newspaper’s Health Commission under freedom of information laws reveal that cases of malnutrition have more than doubled in a decade and have quadrupled since 2007/8.

From 2022 to April 2023, 10,896 NHS patients — including 312 children — were hospitalised with the condition in England.

Hansard - 1.3 of people with malnutrition are over 65 according to this report.
hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2022-12-14/debates/36D3122B-AB3B-498F-837D-0D9EF344901F/HealthMalnutrition
It’s a multi faceted issue.

1.3?

nanna8, my experience, growing up, was different. We were in an affluent area, had no money worries, all ate a very good and varied diet (and lots of it) - yet, like all the kids in my family, were stick thin from running around all day - and maybe it was genetic.

My aunt took me out to a small museum in an unfamiliar 'rough' area. I noticed a lot of 'big' women around so asked why. She said:

It's because they're poor and always hungry, eating cheap food, bread and lard, chips and buns. Their bodies want good food - so they're hungry all the time.'

I felt so sorry for them!

NotSpaghetti

1.3?

sorry 1.3 million, I missed out the vital word. Need more coffee.

There must be a strong link with the 'epidemic' in (often untreated) mental health disorders, surely? Poverty, self neglect, eating disorders and substance abuse run alongside poor mental health:

www.who.int/health-topics/mental-health

All children in Sweden get a free school meal. National efforts to introduce school meals started in the early 1900's. Meals must
be tasty, safe, nutritious, eco-smart, pleasant and integrated as part of the education. Hot meals are served with salad, milk and water and the traditional rye crispbread. Schools have 'proper' restaurants and teachers eat with the children.

I wonder whether Covid has contributed to the rise in rickets? Children who were unable to play outside will have missed out on Vitamin D.

I think that all children should get free school meals, which should be well-balanced and nutritious. I didn't stay at school for lunch, other than at a middle school which was too far away to come home, but when I was there they introduced a cafeteria-style system. There was a choice of menu, but you had to choose from different groups - eg if you had the chips you couldn't have stodgy pudding, but you could if you'd opted for salad. By the time my children were at school (when none of the children went home for lunch) they could choose what they wanted to eat with no such restrictions. I'm sure mine would have had chips every day if they were on offer.

Having said that, the 'choice' we had was very limited (eg fish and chips or mince and potatoes) and there was little consideration of 'special diets' such as vegetarianism or to cater for religious requirements. Maybe it would be more difficult these days.

Anyway, I think that if all children got free meals it would be cheaper per head, there would be no stigma and nobody would miss out because their family income was just above the cut-off level. Something like lentil soup and a baked potato with cheese (or vegan filling) would be cheap and nutritious - I'm not suggesting Michelin-approved menus.

No one gets anything free here- maybe that is the problem. As far as I know they never have, kids bring their own lunches to school, or not.

Since a lot of young families have both parents in full time employment, due to economic pressures, there will be time and energy constraints in the preparation of fresh food. Also some cultures are much more food oriented than others.
Some cultures actually cook and share food with the family not living at home. It’s part of social interaction.
I think basic cookery lessons would help. I once met a cookery teacher who was very enthusiastic about her skills and her lessons must have been very valuable in the long term. Also new parents can feel insecure about weaning and good support is needed.

The most frequent age groups admitted to hospital with malnutrition aren't children or young families, but from 50-89.

digital.nhs.uk/supplementary-information/2021/admissions-for-scurvy-rickets-and-malnutrition-2007-08-to-2020-21

Our grandson will be three in a fortnight, he has not been seen by a health professional since birth.
My daughter was offered a zoom call with a health visitor.
He is a well fed child who is thriving, the house is clean, there is lots of stimulation, good food and no killer dogs in the home.
So many children will drop through the net, this is a fall out from C19.

Oreo

M0nica

No one is discrediting these figures Maizie but equally we do not want to mount our high horses of outrage and complaint until we know the detail of the figures and their source so that we do not make fools of ourselves by prtotesting agaianst an outrage that is not quite what it says it is.

Agree 👍🏻

So many factors to take into account and junk food is def one of them.Parents who can’t cook so don’t try to, give their kids too many carbs and sugar and little or no veg or fruit.Drug addicts are on the up and they don’t bother much about food.
Mental health can be a reason as well.

The factors you, and other posters, are citing, Oreo were all present in 2008 when my data series (which I linked to) started.

Now explain why hospital admissions for malnutrition have more than doubled since then.