Four in five don't eat enough fruit and veg

Nearly four in five (78 per cent) are failing to eat five portions of fruit and veg every day, a survey by the National Charity Partnership has found.

Four in ten only consume one or two portions a day. Yet at the same time 655,000 people in the region have heart and circulatory disease and tens of thousands of others live with Type 2 diabetes – two conditions associated with poor diet.

Babs Evans, Head of Prevention for the National Charity Partnership, said: “Many thousands of people in Yorkshire and the Humber already live with Type 2 diabetes and heart and circulatory disease.

“These conditions are potentially life-threatening, but also largely preventable. A healthy diet is known to help people reduce their risk, but many of us can struggle with this.

“However, if our eating habits don’t change to include more healthy options like fruit and vegetables, the UK as a whole could be heading towards a major health crisis.”

The survey interviewed 2,000 people across the UK.

More than one in four (27 per cent) said they simply forget to eat more while 22 per cent said it costs too much money and 11 per cent said it was not convenient. Yet more than two-thirds worry about how their diet will affect their health. The partnership - a tie up between Diabetes UK, the British Heart Foundation and Tesco - has published a series of healthy recipes online.