BRITAIN'S 10 MILLION JUNK FOOD ADDICTS

Call to classify unhealthy eating as substance abuse

- By Giles Sheldrick Chief Reporter

TEN million people in the UK are hooked on junk food, research has revealed.

Shocked experts want World Health Organisation chiefs to include food addiction as a form of substance abuse, alongside deadly hard drugs such as ketamine and MDMA.

They claim the huge total of addicts shows how ultra-processed food is causing illness and early death.

Emergency

The crisis is now so acute that medics and academics are gathering in London to thrash out ways to tackle the health emergency.

Organiser Dr Jen Unwin, a clinical psychologist, said: “Some 14% of the adult population is addicted to junk food and this is closely associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes.

“The health disaster is already happening and it’s time for the World Health Organisation to recognise refined sugars, grains and ultra-processed foods can be addictive and cause misery for millions."

The apparently irresistible combination of sugar, starch, fat and salt has created a ticking time bomb, say scientists.

Estimates put the cost of treatment and the economic impact of obesity at £58billion a year.

Britain is forecast to become the fattest country in Europe within just five years with 37% of adults obese, according to the WHO.

By 2040 four in 10 people in the UK will be classed as obese.

The International Food Addiction and Comorbidities Conference takes place in London next month.

Experts are set to reveal the true scale of the disorder and its link to conditions including type 2 diabetes, mental ill-health, cardiovascular disease and cancers.

The epidemic is considered to be so severe that the humanitarian aid agency UNICEF will be sending along a representative.