End-of-aisle promotions ban 'should be looked at'

Mother-of-two Leigh Walker said there was a lot of misleading information around children's food

When it comes to getting children to eat healthily, "it's difficult, there's so much temptation everywhere," says mother-of-two Leigh Walker.

Health Improvement Commission Dr Simon Sebire agreed, and said the States should look at measures similar to what the UK introduced in 2022 to ban end-of-aisle promotions in supermarkets of unhealthy foods. Director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink said she agreed with discussions into such a move.

It followed the release of new figures from the States of Guernsey which showed around a third of Year 5 children had unhealthy levels of excess weight.

At a play group at Beau Sejour, parents shared their experiences of how easy it was to get their youngsters eating good food.

Leigh said she tried to feed the best food she could and highlighted one of the issues for parents as a lack of information around what constitutes the right food: "There is so much misleading research.

"There is so many things that you think are healthy, that are advertised as healthy, and then you think maybe they're not when you actually read through the ingredients.

"You think: 'What the hell am I doing putting that in my child's body?' It's pretty scary."

In April this year, BBC Panorama revealed baby food pouches from six of the UK's leading brands were failing to meet key nutritional needs of babies and toddlers.

Inara and Sebastain have a healthy snack every day at school

At Hautes Capelles Primary School, student Inara said everyone had to eat a healthy snack alongside their lunch every day.

"I have fruit every day, and at school we get sandwiches, yoghurts and fruit in our lunchboxes."

Her friend Sebastian said "normally for a snack we just eat healthy things and, for lunch on school days, we have one small treat with our lunch."

Last year, the school introduced a new snack-time policy with the support of the Health Improvement Commission.

'Concerning health inequality'

Analysis by the States of Guernsey showed children at States-run schools had higher proportions of unhealthy excess weight than those at private schools.

Public Health associate director Alex Hawkins-Drew described it as "a concerning health inequality".

Health Improvement Commission CEO Dr Simon Sebire agreed: "You see it in the UK, you see the same trend in Jersey.

"What that means is that it's more difficult to feed a family a healthy diet, it's more difficult to afford physical activity and exercise options when you have low disposable income.

"It's not a surprise to see a health inequality, but it's certainly something that we need to look at by looking at what we call the wider determinants of health, looking at things around poverty, around housing and inclusion."

Dr Simon Sebire has encouraged the States to look at how unhealthy food is promoted locally

Local schools praised

Keri Rang has two children she takes to Kiddy Kapers play group at Beau Sejour, while also looking after a teenager who is at one of the island's secondary schools.

She said: "He does eat a lot of snacks when he's at school, but I try and make homemade meals for dinner and I make sure we have breakfast before he leaves.

"I try and have a little bit of control over what he used for lunch, but he's 16 and has a bank card and a canteen at school."

She praised the information provided by the schools when it came to nutrition and healthy eating: "The schools are really good and they give them this sort of information in their PD [personal development] lessons."

Keri Rang praised the island's schools for the work they do supporting healthy eating

One of the issues many parents highlighted as a barrier to healthy eating was the cost of fresh food.

Camille Ross-Burrows said it was a struggle to ensure she had fresh food in her fridge all the time.

"We tend to buy reduced, we buy a lot of frozen fruit, but everything's so expensive at the moment."

The latest inflation figures for Guernsey showed prices rose by 3.3% in the three months up to September. At its recent highest, inflation hit 8.8% in December 2022.

Mother Camille Ross-Burrows said the affordability of fresh food was a barrer to providing healthy meals

'Info out there'

In Guernsey, the Health Improvement Commission goes into schools with its "eat well" scheme to provide information on where parents and young people can find healthy foods.

Beau Sejour Swim School teacher Jessica Lawrence was confident there was a lot of healthy food available at the leisure centre: "There's always access to healthy food all over the centre.

"For anyone that brings kids here, there's always healthy food around."

For mother Camille, she said she believed there was a lot of information about how to keep youngsters healthy - it was just up to parents to find it.

"As long as you have access to the internet, the information is out there.

"It's just having the time to find it with a little person constantly sort of pulling at your trousers."

Affordability issues

Mother Micaela Braithwaite said it was not easy to get her children to eat what she saw as the right food.

"It's very hit and miss. They'll definitely take chips and chocolate over anything healthy, but we do try our best."

She praised the local initiatives to support children's healthy eating: "I think the island is very supportive. I've seen campaigns around trying to encourage good eating and good healthy habits, so I think there is support for it.

"But healthy food is not always the most affordable as well, so we've got that to think about."

Director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink said she "consistently emphasised the need for bold, system-wide action to prevent diet-related disease".

She said she had called for central government-led policies that made healthy choices easier and more accessible as "levels of excess weight among children remain concerning".

She said: "In this context, I welcome public discussion around measures such as restricting the placement of products high in fat, salt and sugar in prominent store locations like aisle-ends and checkouts.

"These are evidence-based interventions shown to reduce impulse purchases and support healthier choices."