Austerity policies, nutrition, and health outcomes

Abstract

Introduction: Diets are key contributors to health and can be affected by the food environment and macroeconomic influences. The UK government introduced austerity policies in 2010, leading to considerable welfare reform, and national and local level reductions to public expenditure. This thesis aims to examine the impacts of UK austerity policies on food intakes, food insecurity, and nutritional anaemia hospital admissions. Methods: I undertook two systematic reviews and two quantitative studies. The systematic reviews examined 1) the impact of the Great Recession and austerity policies on food intakes and 2) the relationship between UK austerity policies and food insecurity and foodbank use. I examined the impacts of changes to local authority (LA) service spending on food purchases using fixed effects linear regression and on nutritional anaemia hospital admissions using fixed effects Poisson regression in two quantitative panel studies. Results: My systematic review found diverse impacts of the Great Recession on food intakes, and minimal research on impacts of austerity policies on food intakes. My systematic review found that UK austerity policies, particularly welfare reform, were consistently associated with increased food insecurity and foodbank use. I also found that reductions in LA service spending were associated with small, mixed impacts on fruit and vegetables; foods high in fat, salt and sugar; and takeaway purchases. Furthermore, reductions in LA service spending may have led to increased nutritional anaemia hospital admissions. I consistently found greater impacts in individuals of lower socio-economic position and more deprived areas. Conclusions: This thesis suggests that UK austerity policies have impacted food insecurity, food purchasing, and nutritional anaemia hospital admissions. Policymakers should consider a health in all policies approach coupled with reinvestment in LAs and improvement of the benefits system. Further individual-level research is needed to examine these relationships further.