It is a worrying fact that many toddlers in the UK today aren’t getting the nutrients they need. Iron deficiency anaemia still affects many toddlers and the cause in the vast majority of cases is poor diet. But while toddlers aren’t eating enough of some foods, they are eating too much of others. Data shows that 15 per cent of two to four year olds are now obese, while a further 10 per cent are overweight. Importantly, most of the excess weight gained before the child reaches school age is retained as excess weight during childhood. According to one study of the excess weight gained by nine years of age, 91 per cent in girls and 70 per cent in boys was gained by the age of five years. If current trends continue, by 2050 about a quarter of all children in the UK could be clinically obese. Although there have been several national health policies aimed, in part, at the under-5s, according to the 2010 Audit Commission paper ‘Giving children a healthy start – a health report’, dedicated funding has not produced any widespread improvements in the health of preschool children. In addition, concerns about the quality of food given to toddlers in England’s nurseries have been raised in a recent government report.