Children are suffering horror dental and health problems because of poor diets – as doctors ramp up calls for free school meals.
Medics and dentists said hungry kids are facing tooth decay, diabetes, tiredness, anxiety and even scurvy due to having a lack of nutrition in their meals.
A group of the UK’s top experts, including the British Dental Association (BDA) and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, on Tuesday delivered a letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting demanding the Government roll out free school meals for all state-educated primary school pupils in England. They demanded action to help parents who are struggling to cope amid record levels of child poverty.
Speaking outside the Department of Health and Social Care, Dr Coral Jones, a GP in Hackney, said parents were coming in saying: “The kids are tired. They’re prone to infections. They’re just not robust and they’re not well… all the effects of malnourishment.” She continued: “There are specific things like obesity [as well as] generally being unhealthy and unfit and the effect of sort of bad food, which is saturated with chemicals.
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Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)
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Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)
“There’s increasing allergies, there’s increasing asthma, and all of that, I think, is to do with the chemicals that we’re living in and food is a big part of that.” She said hunger and poor diets were also impacting kids’ mental health, adding: “You don’t want children to be anxious about not being able to have any food.”
Elaine Boylan, head of health and science policy at dentists’ union the BDA, said tooth decay is the main reason for children being admitted to hospital and sugar is the leading cause. The number of kids having rotten teeth extracted had risen by 17% within the year up to February.
Ms Boylan said kids are having to miss school for appointments, are feeling socially anxious about smiling or talking due to rotting teeth, as well as being in pain. “Sleeping patterns can be disrupted due to the pain from tooth decay,” she said. “Some of our community dentists are seeing the real impact of a high sugar diet or excess sugar on teeth where children have to go through extractions or dental treatment due to pain. No child should have to do that at such a young age.”
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Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)
Diabetes UK senior policy officer Hannah Poll said “more and more” children and adolescents are living with obesity and developing type two diabetes, which previously “would be incredibly rare”. She said it “is obviously a massive concern for right now, but also a real concern for people’s futures, for their ability to live a healthy life and a long life that’s fulfilling and means that they can do everything that they want to do. In terms of preventing diabetes, we see free school meals as a really important building block in setting children up to be able to live healthy lives.”
Dietician Clare Thornton-Wood said the cost of living crisis and soaring poverty means parents are struggling to buy healthy food. Research shows just 2% of packed lunches meet the same nutritional standards “The irony is that the most nutritious food, in many ways, is actually the food that’s more expensive,” she said. “If I go into a supermarket, for instance, and I want to buy my children a snack, it’s actually much cheaper for me to buy a packet of biscuits than it is for me to buy a bunch of bananas or a bag of apples and I think that’s really, really sad.”
Why every child deserves a free school meal
The country’s children should not be the victims of the cost of living crisis.
They should not have to pay the price because their parents cannot afford to put food on the table or heat the family home.
But at the moment there are nearly four million children living in poverty. Many of them are being brought up in homes where there is not enough money to pay for a hot meal. Some are having to skip meals entirely.
That is why the Mirror is calling on the government to provide free school meals for every primary pupil in England.
The Scottish and Welsh governments are introducing universal free school meals. It’s time England did the same.
If a child is hungry they cannot learn. It makes it harder for them to concentrate in class and harder for them to reach their potential.
Free school meals for all primary-age children would save parents vital pennies – money which could be used to pay for warm clothes, school activities or heating.
It would reduce the bureaucracy attached with deciding which pupils are eligible. Most importantly, it would mean every child have the chance to flourish.
You can find out more about our Free School Meals for All campaign here
She said it meant packed lunches were often filled with things like a jam sandwich, some crisps, a chocolate bar, and sometimes maybe a processed cheese item. Ms Thorton-Wood said parents also faced limitations as schools don’t have facilities for heating things up and or keeping things cold.
“So actually, what you put in the packed lunch box has to sit around and it has to be safe, to be eaten four or five hours or more after it’s been prepared, which I think also gives some limitations,” she said. “I would say, speaking as a parent with three children, I really understand that making packed lunches takes cost. It takes some thought. It takes some organisation.”
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Tim Merry/Staff Photographer)
Una O’Brien, regional secretary at the National Education Union, said it was an “absolute scandal” that more than 4.3 million children are growing up in poverty in Britain. “Regularly, teachers and support staff report that they are using their own funds out of their own pockets to feed hungry children so they are able to learn in their lessons,” she said.
“We all know as practitioners in our areas that our research, all research, shows that child poverty has a massive detrimental effect on these children. We also know millions of people voted for change in the General Election. We elected a Labour government, and we have demands on that government.”
The No Child Left Behind, a campaign by the National Education Union (NEU), supported by 300 civil society groups and leaders, this summer launched a national van tour to call for an extension of free lunches. The van is stopping at schools to meet with pupils, parents, teachers and celebrities to spread the message of the importance of ensuring no child goes hungry in school. Its last stop will be the Labour Party conference on September 24.
The Mirror has been campaigning for free school meals for all primary kids with the NEU, a call that has been backed by charities and top chefs. Children in England can currently get free school meals until the end of Year 2. After that, pupils are only eligible if their families receive certain benefits under “draconian” eligibility rules.
An estimated 900,000 children living in poverty miss out on free lunches due to the thresholds, according to the Child Poverty Action Group. All primary school children in London can get a free school meal after mayor Sadiq Khan stepped in to ensure no child goes hungry.
A Government spokeswoman said: “This government has a clear mission to break down barriers to opportunity and confront child poverty. As part of this, one of our first priorities is on delivering free breakfast clubs in every primary school to make sure children start the day with a full stomach and ready to learn.
“We have launched a child poverty taskforce co-chaired by the Education Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary, looking at longer-term actions to increase household income, bring down essential costs, and tackle the challenges felt by those living in poverty. This government recognises that prevention will always be better and cheaper than a cure and we are determined to tackle the levels of childhood obesity head on, easing the strain on our NHS and creating the healthiest generation of children ever.”