Unhealthy eating costs NHS £6bn a year

Poor diets are more of a burden on the NHS than smoking, costing the service around £6 billion a year, a new study claimed.

The British Heart Foundation’s research looked at death-rates and the prevalence of food-related problems, such as heart diseases and cancer.

It was said the £6bn total showed that more has to be done to encourage healthier eating.

In total, the cost of treaing heart disease, cancer, tooth decay and diabetes amounts to £18bn, but the researchers acknowledged not all of this was down to diet.

Using research from the World Health Organisation, government and independent scientists, they calculated a third of the cost could be attributed to food.

The study was published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The authors said the estimates showed that food-related ill-health had been neglected by health and food-policy makers.

The BHF is now calling on government to introduce food labeling and restrictions on TV advertising to influence dietary habits.