LONDON — With England trapped in what it calls a vicious circle of junk food consumption, the authors of a government-commissioned review into the nation’s food industry have put sugar and salt in their cross hairs. The independent review, which was released on Thursday, calls for a long list of ideas to improve the nation’s eating habits, including a tax on sugar and salt, with the proceeds used to funnel fresh fruits and vegetables to poorer families, along with allowing doctors to prescribe fruits and vegetables and forcing food companies to report the breakdown of their sales by nutrition. “The Covid-19 pandemic has provided a painful reality check,” wrote the authors of the review, noting that obesity rates had contributed to Britain’s high number of deaths in the pandemic. “There is widespread recognition that we need to change our national diet as a matter of urgency.”The stakes are high: Poor diet contributes to about 64,000 deaths in England each year, the review found, with Type 2 diabetes projected to cost the National Health Service $20 billion a year by around 2035.

Source: New York Times July 15, 2021 17:15 UTC