70,000 Lives a Year 'could be saved by a healthier diet'

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Friday, 04 January 2008

Up to 70,000 lives could be saved every year if people improved their diets, the Government said yesterday. One in ten premature deaths would be prevented if Britons reduce the amount of salt, sugar and fat they eat, it was claimed. And people are digging an early grave for themselves by not eating enough fruit, vegetables, fibre or oily fish, according to a report by the Cabinet Office.
They put themselves at risk from cancer and heart disease - totally unrelated to the current rise in obesity. And those who eat unhealthily but manage not to pile on the pounds are still at risk. The hard-hitting report concluded: "The public health and diet challenge is urgent, compelling, and goes beyond obesity. Existing patterns of food consumption will result in our society being loaded with a heavy burden of obesity and diet-related ill-health."
Source: Daily Mail via www.soilassociation.org