to be fuming at the rates of malnutrition in England?

[sashh]

Reading a report in the Independent about a letter sent to the British Medical Journal.

Malnutrition cases seen in English hospitals has gone up from 3,161 in 2008/09 to 5,499 in 2012/13.

I know some will be people arriving from warn torn Africa, some will be children of frankly evil parents and some will be people not eating due to chemo or some other reasons. But that can't account for such a rise in cases.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/food-poverty-in-uk-has-reached-level-of-public-health-emergency-warn-experts-8981051.html

YANBU- that is terrible. Also, the academics that worked on the report don't put the rise down to immigration from Africa or people on Chemo do they?
They blame the rise squarely on government policy.

One in three is a child, therefore 2 in three are not. I'd suggest it's more likely to be pensioners relying on state income.

If you look at Age concern etc there are a lot of proud people out there who will not claim top up welfare that they are entitled to have.

There's a rise in Eating Disorders, that could contribute to it to.

I wouldn't be fuming, no. Interested in why maybe.

Technically, 'malnutrition' doesn't just mean 'underweight'
It can also be used for people suffering from some obesity-related conditions. Someone living off frozen crap and therefore suffering from vitamin and iron deficiency can be malnourished, even if they are overweight.

Fuming?

Really?

Poverty (in people of all ages) plus lack of resources for purchasing, storing and preparing nutritious food, plus lack of knowledge around healthy eating and budgeting... it easily explains those figures. It's depressing as hell, but not too surprising given the state of things at the minute.

When you've got people returning food to food banks because they don't have the facilities to actually cook a meal, you know things are really bad.

Sparechange I'm not sure if I follow your point about "frozen crap." If someone if malnourished because they can only afford cheap frozen food then that's a problem right?

It is a problem dash, but a lot of people will equate malnutrition with being underweight - either through neglect or illness - but it's important to recognise that that isn't the whole picture, particularly in Western countries.

The current system of corporation-based foods with high calorie/low nutrition being the cheapest and easiest to access particularly in communities with food deserts (places where places to access nutritional foods is limited and other sources, fast food/takeaways/very limited shops filling in the gaps) is a major part of the problem. With the current was the systems are structured, getting a full nutritional diet can be very difficult, especially if we add in the food deserts and other forms of limited access, medical limitations, and lack of support beyond finger wagging that is too often used. The government's food policies and systems say one thing, but most of their support is something completely different - supporting the corporations over the people (both growers/farmers and consumers).

TheSpork I understand all that. I just wasn't sure if that was the point Sparechange was making or if she meant something else.

When you have the combination of high unemployment, wages pushed down to the minimum, rising prices for utilities, housing and food the fact that people don't have enough money to eat well should not be surprising.
When you add in the fact that many now no longer know how to cook from scratch and rely instead on more expensive and less healthy ready meals and take aways than the rise in malnutrition is inevitable.
Very depressing that in this day and age, when top banker's bonuses have gone up again, working families are having to use food banks and many elderly are having to choose between heating or eating.

Malnutrition doesn't just mean "not enough to eat because of the government".

Some of it will definitely be down to people being ignorant about food and nutrition and preparing food.

YANBU, it upsets me too. There is a petition calling for a Parliamentary debate about hunger and food bank use in the UK:
www.change.org/petitions/parliament-debate-uk-hunger-and-rise-in-foodbank-use-jackspetition

Hestershaw The article doesn't say that all the malnutrition is the fault of the government- It says that the rise in malnutrition is

Underweight children not a problem in my area (fairly poor, Inner City).
Overweight children however very much in evidence here, which is also "malnutrition", and down to the parents poor budgeting choices/ability to cook IMHO.

Certainly, when I was a child an overweight child was a rarity. I can promise you that there was a lot less money around then compared to now. (Same area that I now live in). Sweets and pop only at Xmas, and of course "fast food" not yet come over from USA (there was Wimpeys, but no-one I knew ate them)

I would have thought that there are many people that count as malnourished just because they choose to eat a shit diet and that for those people, income has nothing to do with it.

we are eating too much of the wrong food. partially because it is advertised and available all around us all the time (if you live in a town or city). humans have not evolved to resist this pressure

You can buy an apple or banana for 15-20p ..... Tell me why there is a sudden malnutrition problem again?

When did you last go to the cinema without snacking? Or bowling/skating etc?

All contributory IMO. It's a snacking culture, even schools but into it now with snacks available in reception class! Why are we afraid to let children feel hunger?

An apple or banana does not a meal or a balanced diet make, and not all shops sell them at all, let alone at that price. I have two food shops in walking distance, neither have a produce section, the next three closest shops don't either. I have to go to larger shops farther away to get said apple or banana and they only sell in bags/bunches.

It's not sudden malnutrition, it's been a long time in the making as the systems have changed over time. They can talk about how easy and important it is to them, but the systems don't actually support eating well at all.

And I don't snack much at all, particularly not at those kind of expensive events.

Why do people insist on sticking their heads in the sand about this or claim that because they can get a 20p banana, that this is not a problem?

It is a problem.

Food banks are on the rise. People cannot afford to eat properly. I used to live in a shit part of town and there was no decent supermarket for a couple of miles. I didn't drive. I can see how people can struggle to get decent food. And someone will come along and suggest that people eat berries from hedgerows or some shit, ignorin the fact that experts have looked into this and it is a problem.

So YANBU to be fuming. I am.

We have a choice tho. People tend to choose everything else over the banana/apple. That's my point

And food banks don't even offer healthy foods. Shame they can't find a way to, but ours don't accept fresh fruit/veg/meat

All solved, problem over, lets stop them all snacking and get them a banana.

Social engineering, 1997 - 2010?

Recent food testing has shown that the amount of nutrients in various fooods have declined over the last thirty years.

When I was a child we were given cod liver oil and orange juice.
It was free from the clinic.

So they should choose a banana and that's going to solve it

I can get 12 bags of smart price crisps for 68p. They don't go brown and/or mushy after a week. They are nice and savory not sweet.