By Registered Health Visitor – Julia Headland
Last year a marketing campaign ”Better Health” was launched by the Department of Health and Social Care to help prevent obesity and provide parents with support to improve their child’s dietary choices.
The multimillion-pound campaign will highlight the serious health conditions which could be prevented by losing excess weight and also offers free support and guidance to achieve this goal.
The campaign aims to encourage families to eat better and includes a new ‘scan, swipe and swap’ feature for the NHS Food Scanner App which is there to support families to maintain a healthier diet.
The way it works is families can scan the food product barcode from their shop and the app will suggest healthier alternatives to help them make a food swap the next time they shop.
These swaps are in line with the Government’s recommendations for added sugar, saturated fat and salt. This is particularly useful as research suggests that many people are not aware of either the guidelines for salt, sugar or saturated fat but may also not be aware of how many foods have exceedingly high amounts of these in the food or drink.
More worryingly, research has shown that baby food products are particularly bad. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (2022) described that without clear guidance and regulation, baby and infant food products ‘remain nutritional lucky dips’ and are putting the health of future generations at risk.
In fact, research by the British Dental Association has found that over two thirds of products examined exceeded the 5g of sugar per 100ml threshold set for the sugar levy applied to drinks.
Staggeringly many food products , aimed at infants under 12 months actually can contain more sugar than fizzy drinks and some products were shown to contain up to two thirds of an adult’s recommended daily allowance of sugar. Its really worth checking the ingredients next time you are buying food aimed at babies or young children.
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For those people I have not yet met, my name is Julia Headland and I am a registered health visitor and registered general nurse with a degree in public health and over 20 years of experience. I am very pleased to work alongside the Norfolk House Nursery team.
You can arrange to meet me for confidential advice or guidance about your child’s health or development; during the pandemic these consultations are being conducted by Zoom or telephone.
My consultations are free of charge and they are confidential.
You can book an appointment with me via the Norfolk House Nursery staff.
You can also follow me on social media:
Facebook: @JuliaHeadlandPrivateHealthVisitor
Instagram: jh_privatehealthvisitor