SACN report: feeding young children aged 1 to 5 years

Office for Health Improvement and Disparities – 8th May 2024

SACN has undertaken a comprehensive review of the scientific basis of current dietary recommendations for feeding young children aged 1 to 5 years. The report considers:

• national survey data on food and nutrient intakes and status, the prevalence of overweight and obesity, and dental caries
• evidence from systematic reviews examining a number of dietary factors and child, adolescent and adult health outcomes, as well as evidence on factors that influence eating and feeding behaviour, and diversification of the diet in the early years

The report includes SACN’s recommendations to government and recommendations for future research. The annexes provide detailed information on the methods used (including literature search), data extraction evidence tables, quality assessment and grading of the systematic review evidence, and additional analyses.

This report forms part of a wider piece of work by SACN considering the evidence underpinning recommendations for feeding children up to 5 years of age, of which the first part, ‘Feeding in the first year of life’, was published in 2018.

You can view documents related to the consultation on the draft report. The documents include comments submitted during consultation and the response to each of these from SACN.

Further information – Feeding young children aged 1 to 5 years – full report

Annex 1: UK and international recommendations on feeding young children and UK statutory schemes to improve diets in young children

Annex 2: methods used in the Diet and Nutrition Survey of Infants and Young Children and the National Diet and Nutrition Survey rolling programme

Annex 3: details of literature search

Investigating the impact of a salt and sugar tax on health and environmental outcomes

Food Foundation – April 2024

This policy briefing summarises research by Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems (SHEFS) which models the possible effects on food choice of a salt and sugar tax, as recommended in the 2021 National Food Strategy (NFS). It looks at the impact of consumers substituting frequently consumed foods for lower salt and sugar alternatives within the same food category, assessing the affordability of such swaps, and modelling the impact they might have on healthy weight and the environment. 

The research finds that even very small swaps within just eight commonly consumed food categories (therefore likely to be realistic for the general population) can have notable impacts on both healthy weight at a population level and several environmental impact outcomes. 

Read the report – Investigating the impact of a salt and sugar tax on health and environmental outcomes

Prioritising nutrition, hydration and dysphagia in an integrated care context

Public Policy Projects (PPP) – 2024

In 2023, Public Policy Projects (PPP) convened stakeholders for two roundtables to produce a series of recommendations highlighting the importance of embedding nutritional and hydrational health into integrated care strategies. The discussions focused on specific elements of the debate, including improving the management of dysphagia and care provided for frail populations in different care settings.
Roundtable delegates included NHS England clinical leadership, allied health professionals (AHPs) including speech and language therapists, social care providers, primary care representation nurses and other key health and care stakeholders. Key themes discussed at the roundtables:

• Implications of providing health and care for a ‘super-aged’ society and the role of nutritional and hydrational health.
• Why addressing eating, drinking and swallowing conditions is essential for the future of the health and care system.
• The burden of inaction on dysphagia to the NHS and wider sector, which is also linked to hydration management and the cost burden of pneumonia.
• How integrated care can lead to better pathways with regards to nutrition, hydration and managing malnutrition, with specific focus on the impact for people with dysphagia.
• Grappling with integrated care system workforce challenges and significant regional variation in specialist numbers.
• How to make speech and language therapy more attractive to new recruits as well as utilising a non-registered workforce with cross-professional representation to create a “whole-person approach” to care.
• Assessing hydration practice across health and social care settings, ensuring that nutritional supplements are available to patients moving across these settings.

Read the report – Prioritising nutrition, hydration and dysphagia in an integrated care context

Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

The Lancet – February 29, 2024

The combined burden of underweight and obesity has increased in most countries, driven by an increase in obesity, while underweight and thinness remain prevalent in south Asia and parts of Africa. A healthy nutrition transition that enhances access to nutritious foods is needed to address the remaining burden of underweight while curbing and reversing the increase in obesity.

Read the article – Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

The Health of the Next Generation: Good Food For Children.

The Faculty of Public Health – January 2024

The Faculty of Public Health has led a coalition of health organisations and charities in publishing this report. It calls on the government to protect the health and productivity of our next generation by expanding access to the Free School Meal programme, National School Breakfast programme, and the Healthy Start voucher scheme

The Health of the Next Generation: Good Food For Children.

Saturated fatty acid and trans-fatty acid intake for adults and children: WHO guideline

WHO – July 2023

This guideline provides updated, evidence-informed guidance on the intake of saturated fatty acids and trans-fatty acids to reduce the risk of diet-related noncommunicable diseases in adults and children, particularly cardiovascular diseases.

This guideline is intended for a wide audience involved in the development, design and implementation of policies and programmes in nutrition and public health. This guideline includes recommended levels of intake for saturated fatty acids and trans-fatty acids and recommendations on preferred replacement nutrients which can be used by policy-makers and programme managers to address various aspects of saturated fatty acid and trans-fatty acid intake in their populations through a range of policy actions and public health interventions.

Further information – Saturated fatty acid and trans-fatty acid intake for adults and children: WHO guideline

Vegetarian or vegan diets and blood lipids: a meta-analysis of randomized trials

European Heart Journal, 2023

Due to growing environmental focus, plant-based diets are increasing steadily in popularity. Uncovering the effect on well-established risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of death worldwide, is thus highly relevant. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to estimate the effect of vegetarian and vegan diets on blood levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and apolipoprotein B.

Caroline A Koch and others, Vegetarian or vegan diets and blood lipids: a meta-analysis of randomized trials, European Heart Journal, 2023;,

Trolley Trends: Shifting the nation towards healthier shopping

On behalf of Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK, March 2023

It is widely accepted that within the UK the consumption of saturated fat, sugar, salt and
calories is too high. Diets which are high in fat, salt, and/or sugar (HFSS) and/or calories
increase the risk of obesity and overweight as well as other risk factors for a range of
health conditions, including heart and circulatory diseases, type 2 diabetes and some
cancers.
Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK partnered with the major
UK retailer Tesco in 2018, with the aim of ‘Helping you to live healthier’. The four-way UK
health partnership aims to inspire, empower and support Tesco colleagues, customers,
and their families to shift towards a healthier diet to reduce the risk of cancer, heart and
circulatory diseases, and type 2 diabetes.
In March 2022, the three charities independently commissioned YouGov to conduct
research to explore attitudes and behaviours around healthy eating and food shopping. As
part of the health partnership, Tesco provided a sample of anonymised customer Clubcard
data which also allowed YouGov to explore actual purchasing behaviours.
This research delivered insights that underpinned a policy discussion authored by the
three charities, with recommendations for how supermarkets and government can
positively impact the supermarket environment to make a healthy diet more available,
affordable, appealing and accessible to all.

Read the Report – Trolley Trends: Shifting the nation towards healthier shopping

The United Kingdom Nutrition and Health Claims Committee (UKNHCC) annual report for the calendar year 2022.

(UKNHCC) – Published 15 March 2023

This is the second annual report of the United Kingdom Nutrition and Health Claims Committee (UKNHCC). This report provides a summary of the work of UKNHCC along with details of members’ declarations of interest and their biographies.

UKNHCC annual report 2022

22nd annual report of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN)

Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) – March 2023

This is the 22nd annual report of SACN and covers the calendar year 2022.

Work programme
The following topics were on the committee’s main work programme:

• feeding children aged 1 to 5 years
• SACN framework and methods for evidence evaluation
• nutrition and maternal health
• plant-based drinks
• vitamin D fortification
• monitoring the evidence on nutrition and COVID-19

Read the Report – 22nd annual report of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN)