The cost of the UK’s unhealthy food system amounts to £268 billion every year, according to a report.
The Food Farming and Countryside Commission (FFCC) report calculated the direct and indirect impact of diet-related ill health by combining the cost of healthcare and social care, welfare spending, productivity losses and the human consequences of chronic disease, and identifying what proportion relates to food.
The food-related cost of chronic disease in the UK includes £67.5 billion in healthcare, £14.3 billion in social care, £10.1 billion in welfare, productivity at £116.4 billion and £60 billion that can be linked to the chronic disease attributable to the current food ecosystem, the research states.
The connection between diet and health is often discussed, but the economics of that link are staggering
Economist Professor Tim Jackson
Prof Tim Jackson, the director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity at Surrey University, who carried out the analysis, said: “The connection between diet and health is often discussed, but the economics of that link are staggering.
“When we factor in the health impacts, we discover that the true cost of an unhealthy diet is more than three times what we think we’re paying for our food.
“Some of these hidden costs, like lost economic productivity, can be hard to see.”
Ultra-processed foods constitute over half of the UK adult diet and almost two thirds of the adolescent diet and the market, which has rapidly grown over the last two decades, is set to increase in the coming year, the FFCC states.
The report says the right to healthy food should be enshrined in law, there should be regulation of the food environment to prevent harm and money could be redirected towards a healthier, greener, fairer and more resilient new food economy.
There is a clear and urgent economic case for changing the UK food system
Food, Farming and Countryside Commission chief executive Sue Pritchard
FFCC chief executive Sue Pritchard suggested “there is a clear and urgent economic case for changing the UK food system”.
She added: “The state of the nation’s health is not simply the result of under-investment in the NHS. It represents the longstanding failure to take seriously the critical relationship between food and farming, health and inequalities.
“As things are, big food companies are profiting from developing, making and marketing unhealthy food, leaving people with too many unhealthy options – while farmers struggle to make ends meet.”
Earlier this week the Food Foundation charity said the food environment, including the products advertised to consumers, restaurant menus and the promotions offered in supermarkets, is shaping diets and “setting us up to fail”.
Its annual State of the Nation’s Food Industry report cited research from 2022 by the University of Liverpool that found just five companies – Haribo, Mars, Mondelez, PepsiCo and Kellogg’s – were responsible for more than 80% of TV ads for snacks and confectionery aired before 9pm.
It suggested the UK food system is “relentlessly” pushing consumers to make unhealthy choices.
In September, the Government confirmed that a ban on junk food adverts being shown on TV before 9pm will come into force on October 1 next year, although there are already well-established restrictions that prohibit such ads from appearing on dedicated children’s channels or around children’s programmes.