ATTITUDES towards fruit and vegetables are leaving a sour taste for people’s health in the South West, and putting lives at risk, a new study has found.

The National Charity Partnership, a collaboration between Diabetes UK, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Tesco, is urging people to take action now to reduce their risk of developing these conditions in the future.

Adults in the South West are eating less than half the recommended daily amount of fruit and vegetables, despite worrying about how their diet will affect their health.

About 670,000 people in the region currently live with heart and circulatory disease and tens of thousands of others live with Type 2 diabetes – two conditions associated with poor diet.

The National Charity Partnership has published a series of recipes to boost people’s intake of fruit and vegetables and help them reduce their risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart and circulatory disease.

Most adults in the South West worry about how their diet will affect their health, but more than three in four are still failing to eat the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables.

Babs Evans, head of prevention for the National Charity Partnership, said: “These conditions are potentially life-threatening, but they are also largely preventable. A healthy diet is known to help people reduce their risk, but many of us can struggle with this.”

“If our eating habits don’t change to include more healthy options like fruit and vegetables, the UK as a whole could be heading towards a major health crisis.”

The partnership has published a series of 22 healthy recipes as part of its Let’s Do This campaign to help people.

n For more information about Let’s Do This, please visit lets-dothis.org.uk