Symposium on ‘Intervention policies for deprived households’ Policy initiatives to address low-income households' nutritional needs in the UK

Abstract

Members of low-income households in the UK are more likely to have patterns of food and nutrient intakes that are less inclined to lead to good health outcomes in the short and long term. Health inequalities, including the likelihood of child and adulthood obesity, have long been documented in the UK and show little sign of improving so far, despite 10 years of attention from a government that has committed itself to addressing them. Following the Acheson Inquiry into Inequalities in Health (1998) in England a number of initiatives to tackle inequalities in food and diet were established, both nationally and within the devolved nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, until recently, there has been no overall strategic policy addressing the food and nutritional needs of low-income households. The present paper reviews how the problems have been constructed and understood and how they have been addressed, briefly drawing on recent evaluations of food and nutrition policies in Scotland and Wales. The contemporary challenge is to frame cross-cutting policy initiatives that move beyond simple targeting and local actions, encompass a life-course approach and recognise both the diversity of households that fall into 'low-income' categories and the need for 'upstream' intervention.UK low-income households: Food and nutritional needs: Policy initiatives

Exploring health inequalities through the lens of an ethnographic study of healthy eating provision in the early years sector

“…The findings also reflect the complex conditions that can impact on access to healthy food, noted by Dowler (2008). Although these conditions were relevant to households, it can be seen that they also apply to the provision of healthy food within nurseries.…”

“…People living in deprived areas are more likely to have an unhealthy diet (Donkin et al . 2000; Dowler 2008). The quality of diet in childhood and, indeed, from the prenatal period has been shown to directly relate to obesity and poor diet‐related ill health and chronic conditions in adulthood (Kotani et al .…”

A tale of two localities

“…Much of the work in the area of food access does not locate the findings in the wider issues of how people live their lives or actual income and cultural capital 1,2 . Normative standards are often used with nutrition represented in the contents of a healthy food basket or using average incomes or incomes of those on benefits to gauge financial adequacy.…”

Just and Sustainable? Examining the Rhetoric and Potential Realities of UK Food Security

“…Indeed, there is evidence that, for instance, the national statutory Minimum Wage is too low to enable people to eat reasonably and healthily (Oldfield and Burr, 2008), especially since its uprating does not keep pace with real costs (Dowler, 2010). Also missing is the social agency which comes with employment and community security -which arguably gives people the confidence to make choices and purchases which chime with social and expert guidelines for health and wellbeing (Dowler, 2008).…”