What’s missing from the UK’s plates
Credit: Arla Foods UK
New research from Arla‘s ‘Plate of the Nation’ reveals a “nutrition gap” in the UK, a hidden crisis where people are consuming enough calories but missing essential nutrients. ‘Plate of the Nation’, a new annual initiative, combines consumer insight with a review of national nutrition data compiled by the British Nutrition Foundation and offers one of the most comprehensive views of how the UK eats today, and why so many people are struggling to eat well.
A survey of 5,000 adults and 800 children conducted by YouGov, showed that while 79% of people say healthy eating is important, only 53% actually eat healthily most of the time. The data reveals why good intentions fail. While 75% of adults claim they understand which foods are healthy, only 37% say eating a healthy diet is easy. The obstacles are concrete and measurable: 33% cite convenience as a barrier – unhealthy food is easier, while 31% say healthy food is too expensive (rising to higher levels among Gen Z and lower-income households) and 24% admit unhealthy food tastes better. For children, taste is even more powerful, where 98% say they want to eat what tastes nice, and 45% say “my favourite foods aren’t healthy.”
Tellingly, one in five adults (22%) admit, “I don’t care much about what’s in my food as long as it tastes good,” which is a figure that rises to 30% among Gen Z and 25% among lower socioeconomic households.
Nearly one in five teenage girls (18%) are not getting enough calcium during peak bone-building years, while one in three girls aged 11-18 (29%) consumes less iodine than recommended, important for cognitive development. These issues are occurring during the teenage years when eating habits shift and long-term health outcomes begin to take shape. What’s missing now may not show consequences for decades.
The economic reality shows that the most deprived households would need to spend around 50% of their disposable income to meet government-recommended dietary guidelines. For families with children in the most deprived households, that figure rises to 85%.[1]
Within lower socioeconomic households, a fifth of the population eat significantly less healthily, with only 48% managing to do so “most of the time” compared to 56% in the most affluent group. Healthy life expectancy – the years lived in good health – differs by up to 19 years between the most and least affluent parts of the UK.[2]
Bas Padberg, managing director at Arla Foods UK, said, “Closing the nutrition gap is bigger than any one company or any one policy. We need to change the environment people are navigating every day. It will take businesses, government, educators, health professionals and communities working together.”
In response to the findings, Arla is calling for action across three areas: food literacy– cutting through confusion with clear, trusted information, food culture – making good nutrition feel desirable for everyone; and food access – ensuring nutritious food is within reach for all. As a first step, Arla is committing to a review of its own on-pack labelling, exploring how it can better reflect positive nutrition and help shoppers understand not just what to cut back on, but what their bodies genuinely need.
To support young people with understanding food, Arla will also undertake a school outreach programme, aiming to reach 250,000 children and teenagers by the end of 2027 with information, education and inspiration about healthy, nutritious food.
It is also committing to build on its existing access programmes and will donate four million meals in the next year through its impact partnerships, as part of a long-term effort to improve access to nutritious food for children and families who need it most. Breakfast is a key occasion to close the nutrition gap.
