London: Children receiving hospital treatment are being given meals containing "shocking" amounts of salt, sugar and saturated fat, new research into the quality of NHS food shows.
Many of the dishes served to child patients are so unhealthy that senior doctors are calling for minimum nutritional standards to be imposed on hospitals similar to those that already apply in schools.
The findings are revealed in a study carried out by the food campaign group Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash), which is headed by an expert in cardiovascular medicine. They analysed the nutritional content of 451 main meals, snacks and desserts served to children in hospitals in England and found that:
Almost half the main meals, 85 of 189, contained so much salt or saturated fat that they would be deemed too unhealthy to be offered to school pupils.
The 451 dishes analysed were provided by three main providers of hospital food.
