Babies' health at risk by low benefit levels

Babies' health at risk by low benefit levels

Most pregnant teenagers are not eating an adequate diet, putting their babies' health at risk, according to a new report published today by the Maternity Alliance and the Food Commission. For many, this is because they cannot afford the healthy diet needed for themselves and their growing babies.

A total of 46 pregnant women under the age of 18 were interviewed. Most reported that they ate many fatty, salty and sugary foods (such as biscuits,chips, fizzy drinks and squash) but few fruits and vegetables. Nutritional analysis of the diets showed deficiencies in several essential vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A, magnesium, folic acid, zinc, iron and calcium.

The report, called Good Enough to Eat?: The Diet of Pregnant Teenagers,showed that two-thirds of pregnant teenagers living away from family had a food budget of less than £20.25 per week – the estimated cost of a "modest but adequate" diet. The same number said that their diet worsened as money ran out, as they started to eat less food and fill up on cheap, unhealthy food such as chips. One pregnant 16-year-old said that when her money starts to run out, "I normally fill myself up on bread or crisps or chocolate because it's cheap".

"Pregnant teenagers receive significantly less benefits than mothers over the age of 25", said Christine Gowdridge, director of the maternity Alliance. "Yet their dietary needs, and the needs of their growing babies,are the same, if not more. How can we expect teenager mothers to be able to eat healthily on less than £3 per day for food?".

"Women on a poor diet during pregnancy are more likely to have low birthweight babies. That increases their baby's risk of poor health during childhood and during their adult life" said Tim Lobstein, director of the Food Commission. "Without sufficient cash, no amount of nutrition information, and no amount of cooking skills will help these women protect the health of their babies".

The young women taking part in the survey were generally aware of what a healthy diet should consist of, and many were making efforts to improve their diets (e.g. drinking milk and eating more vegetable). All of those surveyed said that they had received dietary advice during their pregnancy and the majority said that they had tried to follow this advice. But almost all of those who were not able to follow the advice said that this was because they could not afford to do so. One pregnant 16-year-old explained, "I have been trying to eat more healthily but it's not that easy because meat and stuff is really expensive".

The report's authors called for welfare benefits to be available as soon as women confirm their pregnancy (rather than having to wait until they are 29 weeks pregnant), and for all pregnant women to be entitled to at least the same benefits as the current rates for women aged over 25.

The full report is available free of charge in pdf format on the Web sites of the Maternity Alliance (www.maternityalliance.org.uk)and the Food Commission (www.foodcomm.org.uk).

For the Maternity Alliance contact: Helen Burchett on 020 7490 7639, ext 132;and for the Food Commission contact: Annie Seeley on 020 7837 2250.