Hungry Britain

Millions of the poorest people in Britain are struggling to get enough food to maintain their body weight, according to official figurespublished in the Government's Family Food report.

The poorest 10 per cent of the population – some 6.4 million people – ate an average of 1,997 calories a day last year, compared with the average guideline figure of about 2,080 calories. For the first time since the Second World War, the poor cannot afford sufficient calories.

The report also highlighted a widening consumption gap between rich and poor. In 2001/2, there was little difference, with the richest 10th consuming a total of 2,420 calories daily, about 4 per cent more than the poorest. But in 2013, the richest group consumed 2,294 calories, about 15 per cent more than the poorest.

It also found that the poorest people spent 22 per cent more on food in 2013 than in 2007 but received 6.7 per cent less.

Liz Dowler, a professor of food and social policy at Warwick University, said it was clear that "there are substantial numbers of people who are going hungry and eating a pretty miserable diet. The story of people struggling is now beginning to show up in national data sets and that's a pretty bad sign." Professor Dowler said people who were struggling to get enough calories would often turn to high-energy food, such as chips, that can have a low nutritional value. "You can stave off hunger by just having some relatively cheap calories but if you live like that day after day your health will suffer significantly." She went on to explain "At the extreme, malnourishment is a cliff edge, but mostly it's not. It's a slow, miserable grind of bodily impoverishment, where you're gradually depleting your body's stores and your strength is way below what it should be. Your skin is very pale, you are exhausted all the time, you feel very low, often extremely depressed and you find it difficult to work. Children who are malnourished cannot concentrate at school, have endless coughs and colds and they get sick all the time. It's a pretty negative existence."

Susan Jebb, a professor of diet and population health at Oxford University and a member of Public Health England's obesity programme board, said "There are sub-groups of the population who are in food poverty and who are struggling to have enough to eat."               

                       

The use of food banks in the UK has surged in recent years. The Trussell Trust, a charity which runs more than 400 food banks, said it had given three days worth of food, and support, to more than 492,600 people between April and September this year, up 38 per cent on the same period in 2013. Chris Mould, the chairman of the Trussell Trust, said people who used food banks were genuinely desperate. "We talk to people who have had nothing but toast to eat for a week – usually parents because they are trying their best to keep their children fed," he said.

Niall Cooper, the director of Church Action on Poverty, said the situation was "deeply worrying". "People are desperate and those using food banks are only the tip of the iceberg," he said. "There are lots of people who are too ashamed and who don't want to approach a professional to get a referral to a food bank."

And Imran Hussain, the head of policy at the Child Poverty Action Group, said: "The cost of the basics in life – rent, food and heating – has far outstripped headline inflation, earnings and benefit levels. "Rather than spending billions on tax cuts largely benefiting the rich, we should be choosing to protect our children from hardship through prioritising affordable housing, tackling low pay and protecting the purchasing power of benefits."