Giving Compass' Take:

• A new report found that 3.7 million children in the UK are living in households that can not provide them with a healthy diet of sufficient fruits and vegetables.

• How does this compare with children in the United States? How can public and private funding help to make healthy food more accessible to kids?

• Read about how organizations are helping kids have access to free lunch during the summer months when they can no longer get it at schools.

A groundbreaking new report investigating food poverty in Britain has revealed that families across the country are struggling to afford food that meets the government’s nutrition guidance.

In fact, according to the independent think-tank the Food Foundation, some 3.7 million children in the UK are living in households that can’t provide enough fruit, vegetables, fish, pulses, and other healthy foods.

The government’s Eatwell Guide outlines the diet that meets people’s nutrition needs.

It includes things like eating at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day; choosing wholegrain or higher-fibre carbohydrates, with less added fat, salt, and sugar; eating more beans and pulses, and two portions of sustainably sourced fish a week; eating less red and processed meat, and choosing lower fat and lower sugar dairy options.

“Most adults and children in the UK do not currently meet requirements for a nutritious diet, eating too much sugar, saturated fat and salt, and failing to meet recommendations for fruit and vegetable and oily fish consumption,” read the report. “This is particularly true for lower income households, who consume significantly less fruit and vegetables than those on a higher income.”

While not knowing how to cook healthily, and lack of access to shops selling fresh produce are problems too, not having enough money is the main reason that most people eat unhealthily.

The Food Foundation highlighted higher rates of childhood obesity in deprived areas of the country. Over a quarter (26%) of year-6 children in the most deprived areas of England are obese, compared to just 11% in England’s richest communities.

Read the full article about healthy diet for kids by Imogen Calderwood at Global Citizen