As a parent, you will always be anxious to ensure your children get the best care possible. Part of this will be ensuring that they benefit from a balanced diet and watch their weight.

However, many parents are in a difficult situation and are not always able to see what the healthier options are. A new app from the NHS is seeking to change that by offering better alternatives. Here, then, is how the NHS Food Scanner app can help you make healthier choices.

Survey shows how the pandemic raised obesity levels

A survey showed that there was a rise in obesity among 10-11-year-olds since the start of the pandemic.

There could be many reasons for this, such as lack of access to healthy foods, less exercise due to lockdowns, and school closures meaning less healthy meals.

Whatever the reasons may be, the government has committed to addressing childhood obesity. One way it seeks to do this is through an updated app.

The new NHS barcode scanner app

To use the new app, you will need to get your phone and start scanning your shopping. While you are shopping, or at home, you can scan the foods you are buying, and the app will show you if there are any healthier alternatives.

The app uses your phone’s camera just like many of the supermarket scanning apps, and will give you a ‘Good Choice’ badge if you are making the right decisions.

Nutrient data is supplied by Brandbank and FoodSwitch, and is designed to be easy to read and simple to use.

App features

As mentioned earlier, you will be presented with a ‘Good Choice’ badge if you are regularly making the right decisions. This will also encourage you to see what areas need to be improved.

Another aspect of the app is ‘living labels’, which is an augmented reality feature that brings salt, sugar, and fat to life, so your family can see and understand more about what you are eating.

Many products in the UK contain a traffic light system on the packaging to show you what levels of unhealthy ingredients are in the products. This system is also used by the app, so that you can quickly and easily see which foods are good choices and which are bad.

Another good feature is the ability to see every item you have ever scanned on the app. This will make it easier to see ‘at a glance’ which foods were good last time, so that you can make those choices again.

The app is designed to help people make good food choices, but also to encourage children to be involved with what they are eating and understand more about the food itself.

Conclusion

If you are looking to start making healthier choices for you and your family, then this new NHS food scanner app could be just what you need. It can be downloaded on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

Solutions like this app are further demonstrating the continued and indeed, arguably increased relevance of barcode scanner technology, and the associated barcode scanner repair services, to our lives since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.