A new Born in Bradford study, supported by NIHR ARC Yorkshire and Humber (YH ARC), has lifted the lid on teen eating habits.
The study surveyed over 13,000 young people aged 12-15 to paint a wider picture of teenage nutrition.
Breakfast: a growing gap between girls and boys.
Eating breakfast regularly is linked to better nutrition, improved school performance, lower anxiety, and a reduced risk of health problems later in life.
Research found that 29% of girls eat breakfast less than once a week or never, compared to 16% of boys. Overall, only 39% of teenagers eat breakfast every day — and this falls further as young people get older, from 44% among 12-to-13-year-olds to 36% among 14-to-15-years-olds.
Fruit and vegetables: most teenagers fall well short of ‘5 A Day’.
The government recommends that everyone, including children, eats at least five portions of fruit and vegetables combined a day, so called “5 A Day”.
However, the study found that only around 1 in 5 Bradford teenagers (19%) eat two or more portions of fruit daily, and a similar proportion (20%) eat two or more portions of vegetables daily. This means most young people in Bradford are likely falling well short of their daily ‘5 A Day’ target.
Energy drinks: higher than the national average and driven by social pressure.
The research also uncovered unexpectedly high levels of energy drink consumption among teenagers. Over a third (36%) reported drinking energy drinks at least once a week, higher than national estimates which range from 3% to 32%.
Girls were slightly more likely than boys to drink energy drinks daily, contrary to typical assumptions about energy drink consumers.
While many young people reported drinking energy drinks, over 60% of participants said they have sugary drinks at least once a week.
Additionally, qualitative interviews revealed that food and drinks can carry social status among teenagers, as one participant noted that “having an energy drink is seen as such a thing to brag about.”
Family and peer influencers can strongly influence youth’s choices too. When discussing an energy drink, a 13-years-old-female participant shared: “Influencers showing how it’s such a good drink and everything […] people see it and then they try it, and then their friends see it and then they want to try it and it’s just like a cycle”.
Dr David Ryan, Research Fellow at Born in Bradford and YH ARC researcher, said: “When over a third of teenagers are drinking energy drinks and more than half are having sugary drinks each week, and when those drinks can carry real social currency, this is no longer just a nutrition issue. It’s a public health issue. We need stronger policies alongside education to address the pressures driving their popularity. Without co-ordinated action, we risk normalising habits that could harm young people’s health in the long term.”
Tim Howells, Head of Public Health at Bradford Council stated: “In Bradford district we keep rolling out our healthy schools’ programme ‘Living Well schools’ which, among other initiatives, supports schools with food nutrition and a new circular food growing project through the #GrowWelltoEatWell campaign.”
We are also working alongside the York University ‘Fix Our Food’ team to improve school food menus, and with increasing uptake of Free School Meals. The latter of which has led to the increased uptake of 2,733 families into Free School Meals, which is an additional £2 million investment into schools thanks to the Pupil Premium investment.”
This study is published as a preprint and currently undergoing peer review on the open research platform Wellcome Open Researchandis part of the Born in Bradford Age of Wonder, a seven-year project tracking the lives of all secondary school students in Bradford across 20 different life dimensions – from mental health and nutrition to gaming, the environment and AI use.