Diabetes rates rise in the UK and increasing food prices do not help

A rise in diabetes cases is not helped by price rises in the cost of food that are above the rate of inflation.
The UK has 3 million people diagnosed with diabetes which is around 1 in 20 people and this figure is expected to rise. In parts of London, rates of diabetes are as high as 1 in 10 people. As is the case globally, around 90% of cases are type 2 diabetes.
Health organisations, including the Department of Health in the UK, have stated the importance of improving diet and activity levels to prevent diabetes rates growing at such an alarming rate but little has been done to make this possible.
Within the UK, millions of pounds have been spent towards educating the public through the Change4Life programmen, however, for many families, the rising cost of basic food makes it increasingly hard to put the advice into practice.
Many families in the UK have felt the pinch as figures show that food prices have increased by 4.3% a year, with Malta being the only EU country to have experienced a higher increase in food prices. It is therefore not surprising that many families are opting to save money by picking up energy dense but nutrient poor foods such as white bread that are usually the cheapest sources of calories available.
Meanwhile, market research data from Mintel, published earlier this month, shows that less of us are eating vegetables in response to rising prices. Less than 1 in 4 of us are eating 5 portions of fruit or vegetables per day and this has been linked with prices of fruit and veg which has grown by as much as 10% in the past year.