Liverpool paediatrician warns hunger is worsening children’s illnesses

Alder Hey consultant Ian Sinha says children are facing immediate and lasting health harms as the Right to Food UK Commission calls for action to end food insecurity by 2035.

A Liverpool paediatrician has warned that food insecurity is damaging children’s health in ways that can be immediate, severe and long-lasting, after describing cases at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital that included a teenager with diabetes eating emergency glucose because there was no food at home. Ian Sinha, a consultant respiratory paediatrician, said the effects of hunger were appearing across his work, from children with chronic illness relying on unsuitable food parcels to young patients whose conditions worsened because their families could not consistently afford enough to eat. His remarks came as the Right to Food UK Commission published its final report at the Labour Party conference, saying more than 14 million people in the UK are now affected by food insecurity.

According to the commission, food insecurity is not simply a matter of empty cupboards but part of a wider affordability crisis that requires state intervention. The body, which was launched in November 2025 by the Right to Food campaign with the University of Westminster, the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union and the Food and Work Network, says it has gathered evidence from communities, academics, health experts, campaigners, trade unions and people with lived experience in order to build a practical route towards ending hunger in the UK. A separate briefing from Disability Rights UK says the commission is calling for legally enforceable rights, immediate support for household incomes and a funded 10-year plan to eliminate food insecurity by 2035.

Sinha said the consequences of poor diet and hunger begin early and can shape a child’s future health, learning and development. He pointed to NHS data showing around 700 children a year are admitted in England with malnutrition, rickets or scurvy, while wider dietary inequality is linked with obesity, type 2 diabetes and tooth decay in poorer communities. In his own clinics, he said, some families of children with cystic fibrosis rely on food banks, yet the parcels they receive are often unsuitable for children with complex conditions, while some families are losing support for gluten-free food even though untreated coeliac disease can stunt growth and raise later cancer risk.

He also described what he called the less visible harms of deprivation, including a teenager with asthma who stopped eating because she was frightened of rats in the kitchen and later developed an eating disorder. Sinha said hunger reduces a child’s ability to learn and develop, and argued that the issue demands the same level of seriousness as other public health emergencies. The commission’s report, released at an event in Liverpool during conference week, says its aim is to map a route to food security for all by 2035 and to push politicians in every part of the UK to act on the roots of hunger, rather than treat it as an isolated welfare problem.