Healthy diet could save 70,000 lives

Every year, 70,000 premature deaths in the UK - more than one in 10 - could be avoided if people in the UK adopted a healthier diet, according to new research.

A third of all cases of heart disease and a quarter of all cancers are thought to be diet-related. Over the coming years, the key is not to eat more but to learn to eat better, an interim paper from the Cabinet Office strategy unit says.

The future of UK children is even more bleak. Their diets are - portion for portion - even worse than adults, which puts them at higher risk of disease, disability and lower life expectancy.

The cost of diet-related poor health costs the NHS around £6bn a year and with obesity set to rise, the percentage of total spend will increase from 2% to far higher, diverting cash from other resources.

Challenge

“Obesity is one of the great challenges facing both the NHS and our society,” health minister Ivan Lewis told the BBC.

“While government alone cannot provide all the solutions, it is essential we offer strong leadership commensurate with the importance of the issue.

“That is why we will be using the analysis we are publishing today to inform the development of a radical long-term strategy to tackle obesity.

This strategy, to be published later this month, will once again underline the centrality of prevention and public health at the heart of a modern NHS.”

Simple changes

It’s not all depressing news, however. Just an increase of 136g of fruit and veg a day can reduce the chance of premature death.

The fabled “five a day” campaign is starting to work, with more adults and children getting their five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables, but increasing this will have a tangible effect on obesity and related disease.

Some 3,500 early deaths a year could be prevented by reducing added sugar from the diet by 1.5% of total energy intake.

Reducing average daily salt intake to under 6g (for adults) could prevent another 20,000 early deaths each year and one of the best ways is to cut out processed food. Men in the UK consume almost double to recommended amount of salt, which increases risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

Unsurprisingly, chucking out the fatty pies, cakes, crisps and biscuits and reducing saturated fat by just 2.5% of total energy intake could prevent around 3,500 deaths.

Eating several portions of oily fish a week, which can include sardines and salmon, will help overall health in adults and children, but currently only 3% of kids and 15% of adults on low incomes eat it.