The junk food industry is to blame for the UK suffering one of the worst coronavirus crises in the world, leading experts argue.
Figures show overweight and obese people make up six in 10 Covid-19 deaths in Britain and eight in 10 diagnoses.
Scientists from Queen Mary University of London have accused junk food makers of exacerbating the pandemic and using it to promote their calorie-laden products.
In an editorial published today in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), they said it was now clear ‘the food industry shares the blame for the severity of Covid-19 disease and its devastating consequences.
‘Moreover, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic the food industry has launched campaigns… often with thinly veiled tactics using the outbreak as a marketing opportunity.’
They accused Krispy Kreme of exploiting the crisis by sending a million sugary doughnuts to frontline NHS staff as part of a viral PR stunt.
Figures show overweight and obese people make up six in 10 Covid-19 deaths in Britain and eight in 10 diagnoses. Scientists from Queen Mary University of London have accused junk food makers of exacerbating the pandemic
They accused Krispy Kreme of exploiting the crisis by sending a million sugary doughnuts to frontline NHS staff as part of a viral PR stunt
The signatories of the editorial are calling for the industry to ‘immediately’ stop promoting unhealthy foods and drinks.
Analysis of NHS records shows that the risk of critical illness from Covid increases by 44 per cent for overweight people and almost doubles for those with obesity. Death rates are almost 40 per cent higher in patients with a BMI over 30.
Being severely overweight leads to larger quantities of an enzyme in the body named ACE2, which is hijacked by the virus in order for it to enter the body.
More of these ACE2 receptors translates to more gateways through which the virus can enter the body when someone is first infected – known as the viral load.
The more viral load that invades the body, the worse the severity of the illness and harder it is for the immune system to fend off.
Those who are overweight and unfit also have lower lung capacity than healthy people, which makes it hard to get oxygen and blood around the body.
When COVID-19 strikes it makes it more difficult to breathe and blocks the flow of oxygen even more, which eventually overwhelms the bodies of obese people.
And the immune systems of fat people are constantly ramped up as they try to protect and repair the damage inflammation causes to cells.
Using all its energy fending off inflammation means the body’s defence system has few resources left to defend against a new infection like Covid-19.
Obesity is the major cause of type 2 diabetes which, in itself, is another risk factor for more severe Covid-19.
In the editorial, the researchers write: ‘The obesity pandemic is the result of living in food environments where it is difficult not to overconsume calories.
‘The global food industry produces and extensively promotes cheap, sugar sweetened beverages and ultraprocessed foods high in salt, sugar, and saturated fat that provide only a transient sensation of fullness.
‘It is now clear that the food industry shares the blame not only for the obesity pandemic but for the severity of covid-19 disease and its devastating consequences.
‘Food industries around the world must immediately stop promoting, and governments must force reformulation of, unhealthy foods and drinks.’
Graham MacGregor – co-author of the study and professor of cardiovascular medicine at Barts and The London Hospital, added: ‘Unlike most other risk factors identified for COVID-19 such as age, sex and ethnicity – obesity is a modifiable risk factor.
‘This is why governments worldwide must seize the opportunity to help people to eat more healthily and enforce measures to restrict the promotion, marketing, and advertising of unhealthy foods and ensure their reformulation to contain far less salt, sugar, and saturated fat.
‘This would reduce mortality from this vicious virus and many other chronic diseases.’
The signatories of the editorial include Graham MacGregor (left) professor of cardiovascular medicine and Queen Mary researcher Monique Tan (right)
It comes after two in three Britons admit they have piled on the pounds during the two-month coronavirus lockdown – putting them more at risk of the viral disease.
A third of the population has gained half a stone or more in the eight weeks since all but essential travel was banned and exercise was limited.
According to the survey of 1,000 Britons, one in 20 said they had put on so much weight they were too ‘scared’ to stand on the scales.
The latest survey, commissioned by Slimfast, revealed it was young people and women who were mostly gaining weight.
Two third of those who had piled on pounds were aged between 18 and 24. Less than half were over the age of 65.
More than 60 per cent of females said they were fatter now than before lockdown and one in ten said they were at least a stone heavier. Around 57 per cent of men said they were heavier than two months ago.
One in three respondents said they had gained weight because of comfort eating, while a quarter blamed a lack of exercise.
An eighth said they piled on the pounds because there was more food around the home, while one in 50 said they gained weight because it did not matter as no one else would see them.