Up to 10MILLION Brits 'could be junk food addicts': Experts warn dependence on ... trends now
One in five Brits — or around 10million adults — may be addicted to junk food, top medics say.
Experts claim being hooked on ultra-processed junk is just as dangerous as being dependent on alcohol, tobacco or even drugs like cocaine.
Cheap UPFs, such as biscuits, cakes and crisps, are thought to have fueled Britain's bulging obesity crisis.
Dr Jen Unwin, a former food addict and chartered clinical and health psychologist, said: 'We are sleepwalking into a public health disaster.
'Although 20 per cent of adults may meet the criteria for food addiction, specifically ultra-processed food addiction, it is not a recognised clinical diagnosis.
Experts estimate that up to 10million Brits, about one fifth of the population in England, could be hooked on junk food despite knowing it's harming them
'Yet it is worsening and putting unsustainable pressure on the NHS.'
Dr Unwin is part of the Public Health Collaboration, which wants the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify junk food addiction as a substance-use disorder.
Respected experts, including Dr Chris van Tulleken, will meet at the International Food Addiction Consensus Conference next month, to make the push.
If successful, it will mean UPFs are put into a similar tier as addictive and harmful substances like cocaine, opioids, nicotine, and alcohol.
This could spark calls for junk and UPF food addicts to be sent to rehab clinics or be given expert counselling, for example.
UPFs refer to items on supermarket shelves which contain ingredients people would not usually add when they were cooking homemade food.
These additions might include chemicals, colourings, sweeteners and preservatives that extend shelf life.
It comes amid growing concern about UPFs and the impact they have on health, with foods like junk food and ready meals typically high in salt, fat and sugar.
Overall, two thirds of all British adults are now too fat, compared to just half in the mid-90s. Of those, a quarter are obese.
Figures for children aren't much better. The latest childhood obesity data for England shows one in 10 children are too fat by the
