Young families have the most unhealthy diet of any household in Britain with low-quality food making up almost half their shopping basket, study suggests

Research shows that young families have the unhealthiest diets of all household groups in Britain.

Supermarket analyzes show that nutrient-poor food makes up 40 percent of the shopping baskets of families with children under the age of ten.

This figure stands at 32.5 percent among people over 60, who may have fewer barriers to healthier options. For example, younger families may have less time to find and prepare more nutritious foods.

Health organizations Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK were provided with anonymised shopping data by Tesco to investigate the contents of our baskets and trolleys.

The 2019 to 2021 data, only recently published, shows that young families buy the most snacks, such as chips, cookies, chocolate and candy. These items made up 39 percent of the unhealthy food they purchased.

Health organizations Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK received anonymised shopping data from Tesco to investigate what young families were buying

Families with children under the age of ten made the least healthy choices of the five groups analyzed. The other groups included families with children over ten years old and childless people between the ages of 20 and 39, for whom the share of unhealthy food purchased was 37.2 percent and 36.6 percent respectively.

The figure for childless adults aged 40 to 59 was 35 percent.

Young, financially stressed families may be more sensitive to highly visible supermarket deals on junk food and have less time to seek out healthy options, the researchers suggested.

A survey of more than 4,000 people, commissioned by the charities, found that almost a fifth of people aged 35 to 54 were put off trying new foods due to time constraints and concerns that their children or family would not like them.

Based on figures from 2019-2020, it is now estimated that almost a quarter of children aged four to five in England are overweight or obese.

In a report on the supermarket data, called Trolley Trends, the charities note that such statistics have prompted the government to aim to halve childhood obesity in England by 2030.

But they add that food promotions in Britain usually involve 'HFSS' items – high in fat, salt and sugar. They say this 'actively encourages us to purchase and consume greater quantities of these foods'.

The authors write: 'This impacts people of all ages but, as the report suggests, most significantly for families with younger children, who have been shown to have a lower proportion of healthy products in their shopping baskets than other groups.'

Malcolm Clark of Cancer Research UK urged the government to continue with restrictions on advertising and promotion of unhealthy food, adding: 'The world around us can strongly influence our purchasing behavior and consumption.'

A government spokesperson said: 'We have already taken strong action against HFSS foods and introduced legislation to restrict their placement in supermarkets.'

The spokesperson added that calorie labeling has been introduced in restaurants and regulations around food advertising will be introduced from October 2025.