Increase in healthy food prices ‘makes it hard for people to lose weight’

The increase in the price of healthy food options is making it difficult for people to eat well and for the obese to lose weight, an expert has claimed.

Tam Fry, a spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, said that the credit crunch has resulted in people having less disposable income.

He went on to say that people, particularly those in poorer families, are consigned to eating cheaper food which is not always the healthiest option.

Mr Fry's comments follow the publication of a government white paper called Healthy Lives, Healthy People.

This revealed estimations that obesity-related conditions cost the NHS £4.2 billion a year.

"How much [obesity] is costing is going up … but you can't just blame the people; you have to make it possible for everybody to eat healthy food and that is not happening at the moment," Mr Fry added.

Fish is often recommended as an alternative to meat to those trying to lose weight, but a survey by the Health Supplement Information Service found that 36 per cent of people who do not eat much fish cite its high cost as the reason for avoiding it.

Do you find it expensive to eat healthily?