Poorest children more likely to be obese than a decade ago - report

Rising food prices, low wages and social security benefit cuts have left poorest families unable to access healthy food

Rising food prices, low wages and cuts to social security benefits mean the poorest children are more likely to be obese than they were a decade ago when TV chef Jamie Oliver launched his healthy school dinners campaign, a report has found. Although the incidence of child obesity has fallen in the UK over the last few years, it is growing in low-income households, for whom healthy food is less accessible.

Cost-of-living pressures have triggered a nutritional crisis in low-income households, which are now spending up to 35% of their budget on food, compared with a national average of 12%, and eating unhealthier food, the report says.

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