FOOD AND HEALTH
Food poverty
Health professionals have recognised for many years that poor diet is a risk factor for the major UK killers of cancer, coronary heart disease and diabetes. Yet it is only recently that the immense size of that contribution has been quantified: poor diet is related to 30% of life-years lost in early death and disability (World Health Organisation, 2002. World Health Report 2002: Reducing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life. Geneva: World Health Organisation).
The inequalities in what people eat, depending on their socioeconomic group, where they live in the UK and their ethnic background, have not always been so widely recognised. Nor has the magnitude of the resultant health inequalities. One of the many startling statistics is that diabetes, which is a diet-related disease, is one and a half times more likely to develop in people in the most deprived 20% of the population, compared with the average (Department of Health. 2002. National Service Framework for Diabetes. London: Department of Health).
Action to reduce nutrition-related health inequalities has to be much more wide-ranging than health professionals giving advice to individuals. It must change the food environment in which we live. We are surrounded by advertising for fatty, salty and sugary foods, by unclear labelling, by large portion sizes, by cheap ‘junk foods’ and by expensive fruit and vegetables. In addition, access to affordable healthy foods is made difficult by poor transport and housing, deprived neighbourhoods and limited opportunities to obtain practical cooking skills. Many recent government policies have been clearly directed at tackling these issues. However, there is much more to achieve.
The ‘Food Poverty Toolkit’ was produced following the publication of the 2003 government’s programme for action on tackling health inequalities, and anticipating the government’s Food and Health Action Plan. The Toolkit provides evidence and information for all those concerned with developing and implementing local nutrition and food poverty strategies and programmes.
(Taken from Prof. Sian Griffiths foreward to Food Poverty Toolkit, Faculty of Public Health)
Further information on Food Poverty and Food Access can be found from the Sustain website. Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming, was launched at the UNED-UK hosted Healthy Planet Forum on 17 June 1999. It was formed by merging The National Food Alliance and the Sustainable Agriculture Food and Environment (SAFE) Alliance, both of which had been established for over 10 years. The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
Food poverty work in the East Midlands
In October 2006, EMPHO and the Regional Public Health Group convened a Food Access Seminar, with the aim of providing opportunities for food activists in the East Midlands to:
- Learn about different approaches to food access mapping and have a dialogue with their developers about their relative strengths and weaknesses.
- Compare notes on the ways they are identifying and addressing food access problems in their own localities.
Please click on the links below to see the notes and presentations from the day's proceedings.
Other resources on food poverty and food access