Brits ‘under-report’ their calorie intake harming the fight against obesity
Millions are eating 1,000 more calories a day than they are admitting
BRITS are telling porky pies when it comes to reporting their daily calorie consumption - potentially misleading officials who are fighting against obesity.
A report by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) revealed people eat 3,000 calories in comparison to the 2,000 cited in official surveys.
Failing to admit they eat 1,000 more calories a day could be why there are rising obesity levels - despite decades of surveys saying people are eating less, experts say.
It has prompted government statisticians to announce a change in the way calorie data is collated.
This will send a shudder through the junk-food industry.
Professor Alan Maryon-Davis
Stats from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey and the Living Costs and Food Survey suggest the amount of food people eat and buy has gone down in recent decades - but obesity is still on the rise.
National spending figures also suggest we are buying more food than we report in surveys.
Director of BIT, a government policy group, Michael Hallsworth says reasons people are not accurately reporting what they eat, include snacks being difficult to track, a desire to lose weight making them less likely to be honest about their eating habits, and fewer people taking part in the surveys overall.
He added: "Anyone who has been on a treadmill will know what it feels like to look down and see you have burned far fewer calories than you expected.
"Physical activity is good for your health and heart but reducing calories is a more effective strategy to combat obesity."
Researchers also looked at the theory that a drop in physical activity was the main reason for rising weight gain.
But they say if a reduction in exercise was solely responsible, every single adult nationally would need to have eliminated more than three-and-a-half hours of daily walking since the 1970s to account for the changes.
They suggest policymakers trying to curb obesity should focus more on reducing calorie intake than promoting exercise.
Public health expert Professor Alan Maryon-Davis said: "This will send a shudder through the junk-food industry.
"Up until now they've been able to point to what was thought to be a decline in the nation's calorie intake and say there's really no need for tougher measures like a sugar tax, fat tax or calorie-labelling on alcoholic drinks.
"But this latest analysis rather pulls the rug from under their feet."
NHS £26m gluten bill
THE NHS spent £26million last year on prescriptions for gluten-free bread, pasta and biscuits.
Cash-strapped trusts wrote 1.7million scripts for patients with allergies and coeliac disease.
Official figures revealed 840,000 prescriptions for bread at a total cost of £16.7million. That works out at £19.88 a loaf, nearly 20 times the £2 cost of a gluten-free loaf at a supermarket.
Another £2.5million was spent on pasta and £1.1million on gluten-free and wheat-free biscuits.
Coeliac UK said prescription foods were “vital”, but the cost is forcing some NHS areas to restrict the number they are giving out.
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