Listen: new campaign launched to help parents improve children’s diet

Families will be given support to help improve the diets of their children through a new campaign as the new statistics reveal the number of parents giving unhealthy snacks to their children has increased during the pandemic.

The multimedia Better Healthcampaign has been launched today (Monday January 10th) to encourage families to eat better and includes a new ‘scan, swipe and swap’ feature for the NHS Food Scanner App, which provides a simple solution to help families maintain a healthier diet.

The campaign follows a record rise in obesity amongst children since the start of the pandemic, with latest data highlighting that one in four (27.7%) children of reception school age are overweight or obese; this rises to 4 in 10 (40.9%) in Year 6 (ages 10-11).  Evidence shows that families purchased food more during lockdowns and this remained above normal levels even once lockdowns ended.

Families can scan the product barcodes from their shop and the app will suggest healthier alternatives to help them make an easy swap next time they shop. The app uses a “Good Choice” badge to help signpost people to healthier food and drinks in line with the government’s dietary recommendations for added sugar, saturated fat and salt.

Aston spoke to dietician Dr Linia Patel.

Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash