Childhood Nutrition - Better Health Food Scanner App

On 10 January 2022, the Department of Health and Social Care’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) launched a new NHS Food Scanner App to make it easier for parents to provide their children with healthier diets.

The App is the ideal hack for families, helping them to swap food and drink that are higher in sugar, saturated fat, and salt to healthier alternatives.

The App comes on the back of a record rise in obesity amongst children over the last school year, with the latest data highlighting that 1 in 4 children of reception school age are overweight or obese; this rises to 4 in 10 in Year 6 (ages 10 to 11).

With a simple scan of the barcodes, families can see how much sugar, saturated fat, and salt is in everyday food and drinks. The App suggests healthier swaps, by encouraging users to choose “Good Choice” products - there are thousands of Good Choice food and drink products you can swap to. The NHS Food Scanner App provides parents with an easy hack to improve their children’s health.

The free Food Scanner App is available from the App Store or Google Play or search for Better Health Healthier Families

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