Report: 'I eat once a week maybe" - The health impacts of food insecurity
Food insecurity is a growing issue across the UK, and is closely linked to health inequalities. We looked at the experiences of 78 people facing food insecurity across Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire.
Insights are drawn from engagement events and a survey distributed via food banks, community kitchens, refugee services, and other frontline organisations.
- 77% of respondents reported skipping meals due to affordability, and 63.4% found it difficult to access healthy food.
- Families, especially during school holidays, and refugees or asylum seekers often lack clear information on where to turn for help.
- Over half of survey respondents reported physical health issues such as sleep problems (47.9%), vitamin deficiencies (45.1%), and dental problems (38%).
- Mental health impacts were even more pronounced, with 69% experiencing anxiety and 64.8% reporting low mood.
- People experiencing food insecurity face major barriers to healthy eating - not because of food support services, but due to deeper systemic issues like poverty, limited nutrition education, and low cooking confidence.
Download the full report below.
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Report: 'I eat once a week maybe" - The health impacts of food insecurity
...my fiancé and I eat whatever we can afford with what’s left. My children always come first - even if it means going without myself.
Recommendations
- Improve access to food support information.
- Local authority to consider co-designing a centralised food support leaflet for distribution in low-income communities, schools, refugee centres, and food aid services.
- An online meeting network should also be set up between food support services to enable providers and community leaders to share updates, resources, and best practices.
- Increase targeted engagement of health services in food-insecure areas.
- Many respondents highlighted difficulties in accessing GP and hospital appointments.
Consider the introduction/expansion of regular targeted health outreach visits to food support services. Health care professionals can offer basic support, early intervention and signposting to further care.
- Many respondents highlighted difficulties in accessing GP and hospital appointments.
- Provide training for food support volunteers.
- Volunteers play a vital frontline role and often encounter individuals facing emotional distress, but they may not feel equipped or confident to offer emotional support.
- Food support services should be supported to train volunteers in mental health and wellbeing to help them recognise signs of distress, offer basic emotional support, and signpost to appropriate services.
- System-led support for healthy eating in communities.
- Public Health teams and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) must lead a coordinated response to food insecurity by embedding nutrition education and support into community health strategies.
- Food support services should be equipped with training and resources that enable them to meet the diverse dietary needs of their users - without adding pressure to already stretched operations.
- Nutrition education must also be integrated into broader health interventions, particularly those addressing conditions linked to poor diet, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension.
- In addition, access to community-based cooking workshops and peer-led sessions should be expanded.
If you have been affected by food insecurity, please share your feedback about local services with us with us by completing our online feedback form.
