Early years nutrition is the foundation of lifelong health, yet for too long it has been overlooked in government-led food strategy, both nationally and locally. While school food has progressed, support for nurseries remains lacking. However, as seen in the London borough of Newham, local authorities can take the lead in driving meaningful change for young children’s diets, showing the potential for real impact.
We recently spoke with Jenny Martin, Assistant Public Health Strategist in Newham Council’s public health team, who has been working alongside Early Start Nutrition to improve early years food provision in the borough. In our conversation, it became clear that Newham is at an exciting turning point. By identifying and addressing the gaps in current food provision and leveraging their position across sectors and stakeholders, they are taking decisive steps to enhance the diets of children in early years settings.
Identifying the gaps in early years nutrition
Limited resources and funding often mean early years nutrition does not receive the same focus as school food, despite strong evidence linking the first 1,000 days of life to long-term health and educational outcomes.
Early Start Nutrition have been working with early years settings in Newham since 2016, supporting with menu development and delivering online training. However, a missing piece of the puzzle was nurseries being served by school caterers. Newham discovered that these nurseries were struggling to meet the Healthy Early Years London (HEYL) award due to menu offerings that did not align with the required standards. Menus were following the School Food Standards instead of the Eat Better, Start Better guidelines and, as a result, nursery children were not always receiving the most appropriate types of amounts of food to support their growth and development. This is something that we have found in more early years settings beyond Newham. A June 2024 report by Fix Our Food, The Food Foundation, and Bremner & Co found that many early years settings were not referencing the Eat Better, Start Better guidelines or the School Food Standards, but instead relying on alternative guidance.
This inconsistency in provision can cause gaps and inequalities between different local authorities and different settings themselves. This can result in young children receiving food that may not fully align with their nutritional needs while in childcare. One example is that of portion sizes. Jenny found that some settings were serving school-sized portions to children in the early years. This, as discussed in a 2023 study from Pearce and Wall, is associated with greater food and energy intake. The study argues that this may be because caterers are serving food for both early years and older school pupils, and are attempting to satisfy both groups. Furthermore, some food items being served lack clear portion-size guidance, because they are not deemed ‘good choices of foods to serve’ and are therefore let out of guidance.
The desserts themselves also proved to be a reason that the nurseries struggled to achieve the HEYL award. They were often high in sugar, which, when served consistently, this can contribute to reception-level rates of obesity and dental caries (sugar-related tooth decay).
What they’re doing to make a change
Newham worked with nutritionists from Early Start Nutrition to review menus and recommend impactful changes. Portions served became age-appropriate, and the provision of high-sugar desserts, chocolate, and heavy puddings was reduced, instead being replaced by fruit and yogurt offerings, Jenny explained. Caterers welcomed the move, recognising that as well as being more age appropriate, smaller portions saved money: “If they’re serving smaller portions, then they’re saving money. So, it’s a no-brainer.”
Beyond menus, Newham are mapping the wider food environments in their early years; “looking at both food provision across all nursery settings in the borough, but also their approach to food; food growing, food education, the ‘whole-setting approach’”, as Jenny said. They will start with surveying state-funded nurseries and private, voluntary, and independent settings, before including childminders too. This will guide further improvements and help to establish a whole-setting approach in Newham, as well as setting a precedent for other councils.
They are also exploring additional partnerships to improve integration of sustainability and food education into early years settings. Though still in its infancy, this initiative has the potential to create an even stronger foundation for young children’s food experiences. “It feels like we are building on some brilliant existing work and extending our reach more widely to work on a best practise model for early years settings in the borough” Jenny shared optimistically.
Why This Matters
Newham’s experience underscores how local authorities can take the lead on early years nutrition. They have the tools, the oversight, and the strategic ability to make change happen at scale. While individual nurseries can make improvements, it is local authorities that can drive system-wide change that benefits all children, not just those in standout settings.
As Jenny put it: “There are a few settings in the borough that are very much best practice. And you always hear about those good ones…but they’re not really the ones that we always want to know about, are they?” The real challenge is ensuring that good practice becomes the norm, not the exception.
Newham’s journey in early years nutrition is continuing to build, and we will be following their progress. Their work is a testament to what local authorities can achieve with the right focus and partnerships. By recognising early years nutrition as an essential public health issue, with many complexities, they are laying the foundation for healthier generations to come.
Stay tuned for further updates on this important work.