Fruit and vegetable shortages caused by global warming could result in more than 1,200 extra deaths a year in the UK by 2050, new research suggests.
The climate change study conducted by a team from Oxford University claims that the typical British diet would deteriorate as the effects of climate change hit crop production, resulting in supply shortages and pushing up prices.
They noted that this scenario would increase the number of deaths for which poor diet is a risk factor, adding that this would more than offset a reduction in deaths from obesity that may be seen as the effects of global warming push up food prices.
Dr Marco Springmann from the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, said: “You could expect in the UK the reduction in fruit and vegetable consumption would be the number one risk factor.
“The immediate cause of the reduction in fruit and vegetable consumption are the climatic shocks: basically, less can be grown. That leads to farmers probably using more land, and also the prices go up.
“As a combination of less production and higher prices there will be a reduction in the consumption.”
In a report, the researchers estimate that overall, more than 500,000 extra adult deaths could be caused globally in 2050 due to the impact of climate change on diets.
The reduction in fruit and vegetable consumption is predicted to be the primary killer, accounting for 534,000 extra deaths. This would be only slightly offset by 29,000 fewer deaths from lower red meat consumption.
Rising food prices will result in about 266,000 more people dying due to being underweight - but this will almost be cancelled out by 260,000 fewer deaths from obesity, the researchers claim.
