Pioneering Nutrition Research
We conduct novel research exploring nutrition and diet of people experiencing homelessness, and provide insights and consultancy to organisations to help improve dietary outcomes for people reliant on food services.
FEAST With Us and UCL research project:
What is the nutrition status of homeless populations resident in temporary accommodation in London?
Funded by the British Dietetic Association, this novel research explores the diet and nutrition of people experiencing homelessness and has been conducted in partnership between FEAST and University College London. Despite people experiencing homelessness (PEH) facing greater dietary inequalities, poorer health outcomes, and shorter life expectancy, there is limited research on their nutritional status.
This research, the first of it’s kind, aimed to identify the prevalence of malnutrition, obesity, food insecurity and mental ill health amongst PEH, as well as examine the nutritional excesses and deficits in diets compared with the general population and national healthy eating guidelines.
The study examined 18 hostels in London with 200 participants, revealing high levels of malnutrition (79%), food insecurity (61.5%), and poor dietary quality among PEH.
This study highlights an urgent need for improved food environments, dietary quality of donated foods, and better nutrition support for PEH in temporary accommodation. Findings will inform FEAST’s meal services and healthy eating programmes, while also guiding policymakers, health services, and food aid charities in setting nutrition standards to promote better dietary health.
We’ve created an Impact Report to share key findings in an accessible way:
We are looking for more places to disseminate the findings. Be in touch with info@feastwithus.org.uk if you want to have the findings shared with your team, service, hostel, or organisation.
Other Research Projects
Our founder Hannah Style is a Fellow at the Pathway Faculty for Homeless and Inclusion Health and co-chairs the newly established Pathway Nutrition Committee (PNC) with Ghislaine Swinburn, also a leading dietitian in homeless and inclusion health. The PNC network survey results demonstrate the gaps in the food system serving people experiencing homelessness, and the unanimous desire for developments and standards regarding nutrition for people experiencing homelessness. Hannah and Ghislane co authored a research article for CNMag on ‘Nutritional Management of People Experiencing Homelessness’.
Recently, the PNC has been awarded funding by the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN) to develop a consensus statement on a population-specific nutrition screening tool designed for use in health and care settings. This will be pivotal in supporting hostels, charities and clinical teams to detect nutritional risk effectively.
Hannah is also sits on research steering groups to promote dietary health for people experiencing homelessness, including the Pathway diabetes steering group. As part of this group, she supported resource development including the training module and fact sheet on nutrition. Additionally, she is an advisor to the prevention programme funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR).
FEAST partners with various prestigious academic and professional organisations to promote dietary health of people experiencing homelessness. FEAST is working with UCL and service users to increase awareness of the relationship between diet and mental health among adults using food banks and co-create information resources, and with King’s College London (KCL) and London Metropolitan University (LMU) dietetic faculties to conduct annual service evaluations with undergraduate students.
FEAST has been nominated for The British Nutrition Foundation community award twice, and also by The Caroline Walker Trust. We intend to collaborate further to support the development of realistic and population-specific dietary guidance.
