{"id":364034,"date":"2026-08-02T19:01:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T19:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/uncategorized\/food-banks-nutrition-and-psychological-wellbeing-charlotte-walker\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T19:01:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T19:01:30","slug":"food-banks-nutrition-and-psychological-wellbeing-charlotte-walker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=364034","title":{"rendered":"Food banks, nutrition and psychological wellbeing \u2013 Charlotte Walker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Food insecurity\u00a0is a critical issue in the United Kingdom\u00a0in light of\u00a0poverty rates\u00a0which have\u00a0increased\u00a0significantly since the introduction of so-called austerity policies\u00a0adopted by the Conservative\/Liberal Democrat coalition government from 2010. Despite a change of government in 2024, a\u00a0poverty rate of 18% of the UK population after housing costs combined with the cost-of-living crisis\u00a0of the early-mid 2020s\u00a0has meant that adequate nutritious food has become unaffordable for a growing minority.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a consequence, food banks have proliferated in the UK. In 2010, Trussell (the UK\u2019s biggest provider of charitable food aid) operated just 35 food banks; by 2013, this had increased to 650,\u00a0and by 2019 this had\u00a0more\u00a0than\u00a0doubled again to 1300. The <a href=\"https:\/\/commonslibrary.parliament.uk\/research-briefings\/cbp-8585\/\">House of Commons found that in the year\u00a02024\/25<\/a> there were 2883,\u00a0comprising\u00a01711 locations administered by Trussell and at least 1172 independent food banks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those who turn to food banks have limited choice and control over what they eat. Most foodbanks rely on donations of food, and few have the facilities to store fresh produce such as fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, meat,\u00a0fish\u00a0or fresh bread. Food bank parcels therefore tend to be composed of non-perishable items, often long-life, ultra-processed foods (UPFs); those who\u00a0lack cooking facilities\u00a0face\u00a0further\u00a0restrictions, with parcels focussing on dried products which can be made up using hot water from an electric kettle. UPFs tend to have limited nutritional value, and their consumption is associated with poorer mental and physical wellbeing and overall quality of life (see <a href=\"https:\/\/peerj.com\/articles\/19931\/\">\u00d6zt\u00fcrk\u00a0and\u00a0Udzil,\u00a02025<\/a>;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC12348065\/\">Jesus, et al.,\u00a02025<\/a>;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/public-health\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1351510\/full\">Hosseininasab, et al.,\u00a02024<\/a>;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-6643\/14\/24\/5207\">Mesas, et al., 2022<\/a>). Additionally, research has shown that the very experience of being food insecure has a negative impact on psychological wellbeing (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0277953620307759?casa_token=ngCPpD_pOFgAAAAA:_I6phHtSt4OtfnJbzmabV9mbu9ynjLF7U9-kc8GwplXavE5dQ01vFeM0WV-FPX9kS4D4kAYrNw\">Elgar, et al., 2021<\/a>;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/public-health-nutrition\/article\/food-insecurity-and-mental-health-a-systematic-review-and-metaanalysis\/CB76D90D879907A6050DCAE2AD4F07EE\">Pourmotabbed, et al., 2020<\/a>;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/10.1080\/19320248.2018.1537868\">Afulani, et al., 2020<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3520061\">Tribble, et al., 2020<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My doctoral research investigates whether increasing the availability of fresh fruit and vegetables in food bank parcels can improve psychological wellbeing. I will be using a mixed methods approach to assess psychological wellbeing before and after food bank users receive parcels with a fresh fruit and vegetable boost. I will collect qualitative data on users\u2019 experience of being offered fruit and vegetables, and how they felt about accepting, preparing, trying and eating produce items which were new to them. I will also be interviewing food bank volunteers to understand their perspective on the practicalities of offering fresh fruit and vegetables.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Data collection at out partner food bank began in October 2025 and the findings from this initial study will inform a more substantial study in the second year of my doctorate and I hope to encompass the views of stakeholders connected with the food bank, including funders and donors. I will also be conducting a scoping literature review during 2026 to assess what research already exists around my thesis topic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Food insecurity\u00a0is a critical issue in the United Kingdom\u00a0in light of\u00a0poverty rates\u00a0which have\u00a0increased\u00a0significantly since the introduction of so-called austerity policies\u00a0adopted by the Conservative\/Liberal Democrat coalition government from 2010. Despite a change of government in 2024, a\u00a0poverty rate of 18% of the UK population after housing costs combined with the cost-of-living crisis\u00a0of the early-mid 2020s\u00a0has meant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":364035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12151,125,185360,185361,166,185362,185363,97067],"tags":[11297,6561,2074,13852,6819,7579,12634],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-364034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diet","category-food","category-food-banks","category-food-insecurity-2","category-nutrition","category-psychological-health","category-psychological-wellbeing","category-wellness","tag-banks","tag-charlotte","tag-food","tag-nutrition","tag-psychological","tag-walker","tag-wellbeing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Food banks, nutrition and psychological wellbeing \u2013 Charlotte Walker - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=364034\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food banks, nutrition and psychological wellbeing \u2013 Charlotte Walker - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Food insecurity\u00a0is a critical issue in the United Kingdom\u00a0in light of\u00a0poverty rates\u00a0which have\u00a0increased\u00a0significantly since the introduction of so-called austerity policies\u00a0adopted by the Conservative\/Liberal Democrat coalition government from 2010. 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