The food people eat in prisons affects not only their individual health, but the safety and function of prisons and wider society as well. According to research by Professor Jonathan Tammam, Director of the Centre for Nutrition and Health at Oxford Brookes University, improving diet and nutrition can help support better wellbeing, mental health, and behaviour among people in custody.
Professor Jonathan Tammam
By reducing violence and improving safety, building community and reinforcing life skills, better nutrition could help reduce reoffending and support more successful reintegration into society.
This evidence underpins the Government’s recent policy framework on food in prisons, which cites research by Professor Tammam and his team. But prisons providing healthy meal options is only one side of the equation, as Professor Tamman explains: “We all tend to choose food that’s familiar to us and for prisoners with little to no history of good nutrition, that will often be the less healthy options,” he says. “Many will supplement their diet with snacks, chocolate and sugary drinks from the prison shop. Good food can have an impact in prisons if prisoners choose to eat healthily.”
Encouraging healthy food choices
Supporting healthier food choices is the focus of a collaboration between Oxford Brookes University and the UK charity Think Through Nutrition (TTN). TTN develops evidence-based nutritional programmes to improve mental health and behavioural outcomes in marginalised communities.
Together, they secured funding through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) – an Innovate UK programme that enables organisations to apply academic expertise to real-world challenges.
TTN had already begun developing a digital platform to support nutrition and brain health among people facing disadvantage. Through the KTP, this work has been strengthened and accelerated, enabling the recruitment of a KTP Associate, psychologist Dr Bryan Tang. Dr Tang has brought together the academic, behaviour change and technical expertise to support its further development and implementation.
At the centre of this work is LANAH (Learn About Nutrition and Health), TTN’s digital platform designed to support sustainable behaviour change.
Taking a digital app into prisons
The platform has been designed to be engaging and accessible. Users are supported to set personalised wellbeing goals, choose simple daily habits, and work through short modules on areas such as food, sleep, and mood. Progress is reinforced through reflection, feedback, and prompts that support sustained engagement over time.
LANAH will be initially rolled out across four prisons, two male and two female, reaching 3,500 prisoners as part of a controlled trial to assess its impact.
Unlike many commercial nutrition apps, LANAH is specifically designed for people who may have had limited access to healthy food or nutrition education. It combines structured goals with flexible, achievable steps, and is accessible for those with minimal literacy, with information delivered through video and audio as well as written formats. The platform also includes features such as a meal planner and food diary to support practical behaviour change.
Tahani Saridar
Tahani Saridar, CEO of TTN, says:
“Many nutrition platforms are designed for people who are already motivated and health-conscious. LANAH is different. It focuses on brain health and is designed for people who may have experienced poor nutrition over many years, often alongside complex life circumstances.
It supports small, achievable changes that build confidence over time, and is accessible for those with low literacy. We’re also proud of the strength of the evidence underpinning it.”
Piloting in other community settings
TTN was also awarded additional funding from Innovate UK to trial LANAH in other settings – with pilots due to start with a perinatal service, in children’s care homes, in probation accommodation and a workplace.
“The collaboration with Oxford Brookes University has been instrumental in strengthening and scaling this work,” explains Tahani. “It has enabled us to further develop LANAH and to broaden our reach. It’s rare to see a digital platform like this operating within the prison estate and reaching thousands of people in custody, alongside many more in community settings. For a charity of our size, that level of reach would otherwise have been difficult to achieve.”
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