Consumers in the UK responded to the rapid increases in food prices between 2007 and 2009 partly by reducing the amount of food energy bought. Household food and drink waste has also decreased since 2007. The present study explored the combined effects of reductions in food purchases and waste on estimated food energy intakes and dietary energy density.

The amount of food energy purchased per adult equivalent was calculated from Kantar Worldpanel household food and drink purchase data for 2007 and 2012. Food energy intakes were estimated by adjusting purchase data for food and drink waste, using waste factors specific to the two years and scaled for household size.

Scotland.

Households in Scotland (n 2657 in 2007; n 2841 in 2012).

The amount of food energy purchased decreased between 2007 and 2012, from 8·6 to 8·2 MJ/adult equivalent per d (P<0·001). After accounting for the decrease in food waste, estimated food energy intake was not significantly different (7·3 and 7·2 MJ/adult equivalent per d for 2007 and 2012, respectively; P=0·186). Energy density of foods purchased increased slightly from 700 to 706 kJ/100 g (P=0·010).

While consumers in Scotland reduced the amount of food energy that they purchased between 2007 and 2012, this was balanced by reductions in household food and drink waste over the same time, resulting in no significant change in net estimated energy intake of foods brought into the home.

To investigate differences between dietary habits in Glasgow and those in the rest of Scotland and the role that socio-economic factors have in explaining these.

Data on age, sex, area deprivation, social class, educational qualifications, economic activity, health board region, postcode sector area and informants’ usual intake of foods covering sugary foods, snacks, fibre, starch, meat, fish, spreading fats, dairy products, salt, dietary supplements, fruit and vegetables were available from the 1995, 1998 and 2003 Scottish Health Surveys. Multilevel logistic regression was used to model the relationship between diet and living in Greater Glasgow compared with elsewhere in Scotland, unadjusted and adjusted for age, survey year and socio-economic factors, accounting for the clustering within postcode sector area.

Scotland.

Subjects comprised 11 075 male and 14 052 female respondents.

Lower consumption of high-fibre bread and potatoes/pasta/rice (among men and women), of cakes (men) and of cereals, meat, skimmed/semi-skimmed milk and green vegetables (women) in Glasgow was explained by socio-economic factors, as was higher consumption of non-diet soft drinks among women; lower consumption of ice cream, bread, cereals, meat and green vegetables (men) and high butter and salt consumption (women) in Greater Glasgow were not.

Associations between unhealthy eating and deprivation accounted for much of the tendency of people in Glasgow to have poor diets. Policies are needed to encourage improvements in diet in Glasgow and more effort is required to reduce social inequalities in eating habits. Glasgow’s poor diet will remain unless problems associated with poverty are tackled.

The study sought to explore parents’ views of the injury risks to young children at home and their perceptions of supervision, targeting families living in economically deprived areas, including those living in black and minority ethnic communities.

Unintentional injury is a leading cause of death and disability in young children; most injury occurs in and around the home, and children from more deprived families are more vulnerable. Inadequate supervision is often cited as an important risk factor in childhood injury.

Qualitative semi-structured interviews were carried out with 34 families (23 white, 6 black, 5 South Asian) in economically deprived communities in Bristol, UK from September 2005 to July 2006.

The four main interview themes were perceptions of risk, coping with kitchen hazards, attitudes to supervision, and learning strategies. No major differences were seen between different ethnic groups in perceptions expressed or methods used by parents to keep children safe. The common practice of barring children from entering the kitchen when cooking by using stair gates is discussed. Reduced use of safety equipment and a perceived risk of burns from irons in the South Asian communities are highlighted. Constant supervision and learning by experience are common strategies employed by these parents to keep their children safe in often adverse living conditions. Parents need to be aware of the link between child development and injury risk, and also of differences in injury rate as a function of the child’s individual temperament and ability.

To assess the use of folic acid supplementation in relation to small-area measures of social deprivation.

Cohort study.

Antenatal clinic, Women's Outpatients Services, Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, UK.

Four hundred and fifty women attending their 18-week antenatal clinic appointment. No selection criteria were applied. Townsend scores were allocated using postcodes to provide a small-area measure (enumeration district) of social deprivation.

Eighty-nine per cent of women took folic acid prior to their 18-week antenatal clinic appointment; 48% of women took folic acid before 4 weeks of gestation. Younger women and more socially deprived women were less likely to use folic acid supplements before 4 weeks of gestation. Women with a family history of neural tube defects were no more likely to take folic acid than were women with no family history of neural tube defects.

A high proportion of women reported taking folic acid supplements during pregnancy but less than half took them at the most important time in early pregnancy. Younger women and women who were more socio-economically deprived were much less likely to take folic acid during the critical periconceptional period. Future strategies should promote prenatal folic acid supplementation in women under the age of 24 and in women of low socio-economic status. Further attention should also be given to the use of folic acid supplements in women with a family history of neural tube defects.