What is really missing from Britain’s plates?

This is what we’re calling a “nutrition gap” - a hidden crisis that is shaping health outcomes today and for generations to come.

Developed in collaboration with the British Nutrition Foundation, Plate of the Nation brings together national nutrition data with insights from more than 5,000 adults and 800 children across the UK*. The findings paint a clear picture of how the nation is eating - and why so many are struggling to eat well.

Good intentions, real barriers

Across the UK, people understand the importance of healthy eating - but many feel unable to act on it.

• 79% of people say healthy eating is important, yet only 53% feel they eat healthily most of the time
• While 75% believe they know which foods are healthy, just 37% say eating a healthy diet is easy

So what’s standing in the way? Plate of the Nation highlights a set of everyday obstacles that make healthy choices harder:

• Convenience - unhealthy options are often quicker and easier
• Cost - many perceive nutritious food as too expensive
• Confusion – conflicting information about what healthy eating looks like
• Taste preferences - especially among younger people

For children, taste is a particularly strong influence. Almost all (98%) say they want to eat foods that taste good, and nearly half recognise that their favourite foods aren’t always healthy.

Together, these factors create a food environment where good intentions don’t always translate into better diets.

A growing concern: nutrition in teenage years

One of the most concerning findings in the report is the impact on young people - particularly teenage girls. During adolescence, the body undergoes critical development, making good nutrition essential. Yet the data shows:

• Nearly 1 in 5 teenage girls are not getting enough calcium
• Around 1 in 3 girls aged 11–18 fall short on iodine intake

These nutrients play a vital role in bone health and cognitive development. Deficiencies during these years may not be immediately visible - but they can have consequences that last for decades.

A postcode lottery for nutrition

The report also highlights a stark inequality in access to healthy diets across the UK. For families in the most deprived communities, the challenge is not just about choice - it’s economic reality:

• The most deprived households may need to spend around 50% of their disposable income to meet recommended dietary guidelines
• For families with children, this can rise to as much as 70%

This disparity is reflected in diets:

• Only 40% of people in the most deprived households say they eat healthily most of the time, compared to 56% in more affluent groups

The impact goes far beyond daily meals. Across the UK, healthy life expectancy differs by up to 19 years depending on where people live - signaling that nutrition is closely linked to broader health inequality.

Shifting the conversation to create a positive vision for food

For decades, public conversation about food has largely focused on what to cut out - reducing sugar, salt and fat. While this remains vitally important, the findings suggest a need to rebalance the conversation and help people understand more of the good things they should eat.

As Arla Foods UK Managing Director Bas Padberg explains, the challenge is not just awareness - it’s the environment people navigate every day:

“This research shows a nation that understands the problem but faces structural barriers - convenience, confusion, cost and taste - that make healthy eating feel harder.”

Ultimately, closing the nutrition gap will require a broader, system-wide effort:

“Closing the nutrition gap is bigger than any one company or any one policy… it will take businesses, government, educators, health professionals and communities working together.”

Taking action - and calling for collaboration

Plate of the Nation is not just about understanding the problem - it’s about instigating action.

Arla is focusing on three key areas to help drive change:

• Food literacy - providing clear, trusted information to cut through confusion
• Food culture - making nutritious choices more appealing and desirable
• Food access - helping ensure healthier options are within reach for everyone

As part of this, Arla has committed to:

• Reviewing its own on-pack labelling to better highlight positive nutrition and support informed choices
• Expanding school outreach to help young people build understanding of nutrition from an early age
• Strengthening partnerships to improve access to nutritious food, including through initiatives focused on breakfast — a key moment to start the day with nutritious food

But no single organisation can address this challenge alone.

That’s why Arla is inviting partners across the food system - from policymakers and retailers to educators and community organisations - to join a collective effort to close Britain’s nutrition gap and build a healthier future for all.

A shared opportunity

The findings from Plate of the Nation highlight an important truth: improving the nation’s diet is not just about individual choice - it’s about creating the right conditions for healthier choices to be possible, practical and appealing.

By working together across sectors, there is an opportunity to reshape the food environment, support better everyday habits, and ensure that everyone - regardless of background - has access to the nutrition they need to thrive.

Read Plate of the Nation here

*This report draws on three overarching sources:

• A nationally representative survey of 5,127 UK adults aged 16+, conducted by YouGov in February 2026
• A survey of 863 children aged 8–15 and their parents, also conducted by YouGov in February 2026, with quotas applied across gender, age and socioeconomic group
• A review of UK nutrient intake data and dietary research conducted by the British Nutrition Foundation, including analysis of National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) findings