Spatial Microsimulation and Levelling Up: The Importance of Fine Scale Food Consumption Data

There are considerable spatial inequalities in food consumption which are associated with health issues such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer. These issues need to be tackled as part of the levelling up agenda to improve health outcomes in deprived areas. Whilst traditional data sources are insufficient to capture the fine scale variability of food consumption, Spatial Microsimulation can be used to estimate consumption at the local level. In this study, we show how individual food diary data can be combined with Census data to derive fine scale estimates. This will enable the targeting of resources, funding and support.