Fruit and veg could be given on prescription

Fruit and vegetables could be prescribed by the NHS as part of proposals to encourage healthy eating, a review has suggested.

GPs could soon be asked to prescribe fruit and vegetables as well as ‘food-related support’ to encourage healthy eating among some of the city’s poorest people under proposals set out by the National Food Strategy.

The independent report, which was commissioned by the government in 2019, has also proposed taxing sugar and salt to pay for more free school meals.

Dr Jason Seewoodhary, GP at Barbourne Medical Centre in Worcester, said eating more fruit and vegetables was one of the most important ways to prevent illness.

“Healthy eating forms the crux of preventative medicine, namely, proactively adopting lifestyle measures to prevent illness and disease – in other words, prevention is always better than cure,” he said.

“Five portions of fruits and vegetables daily confer enormous health benefits honed on reducing the risk of obesity with associated health-complications such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, arthritis, infections, depression, anxiety, strokes and certain types of cancer.

“These conditions are extremely difficult, challenging and complicated to treat and often treatments are limited in their application.”

Around 62 percent of people in Worcestershire are either overweight or obese – which is higher than the UK average.

The report also recommends the government should trial a ‘Community Eatwell’ programme, which would give GPs the option to prescribe fruit and vegetables – along with food-related education and social support – to patients suffering the effects of poor diet or food insecurity.

Money should also be used to invest in local facilities and initiatives that make it easier to eat healthily and affordably, such as community kitchens, fruit and vegetable street markets, community farms and box schemes as well as community cafes.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government would respond with its proposals for future healthy eating laws within the next six months.

However, the Prime Minister said he was not a fan of creating more taxes for families with the food industry warning of higher food prices if new laws are introduced on wholesale sugar and salt.