Brits are consuming 50 per cent more takeaways than pre-Covid amid the rise of food delivery apps like Deliveroo and Just Eat.
A ‘drastic shift’ has seen fast food outlets overtake pubs and restaurants as the our main source of meals prepped outside the home.
Anti-obesity campaigners warned the findings from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed takeaways were now ‘taking over our high street’, with junk ‘unavoidable’.
The findings mirror a trend seen on Britain’s high streets in recent years, with the demise of pubs coinciding with the rise of cheap fast food outlets offering pizzas, kebabs and burgers.
In Tamworth, Staffordshire, the Tweeddale Arms pub and B&B, was once famed for its real ales and home-cooked food.
In Tamworth, Staffordshire, the Tweeddale Arms pub and B&B, was once famed for its real ales and home-cooked food
The pub closed due to falling footfall and changing drinking habits and it is now a Domino’s pizza takeaway
The Wheatsheaf pub in Nottingham (pictured) has also been converted to a McDonald’s. Almost 30 pubs are closing every week because of high energy costs and punters having less disposable cash. Yet, data suggests fast food outlets are still increasing in prevalence
A ‘drastic shift’ has seen fast food outlets overtake pubs and restaurants as the our main source of meals prepped outside the home. Pictured, the converted Wheatsheaf pub in Nottingham
The pub closed due to falling footfall and changing drinking habits and it is now a Domino’s pizza takeaway.
The Wheatsheaf pub in Nottingham has also been converted to a McDonald’s.
Almost 30 pubs are closing every week because of high energy costs and punters having less disposable cash. Yet, data suggests fast food outlets are still increasing in prevalence.
Elsewhere across the country, high street retailers have been replaced by dessert bars and gourmet takeaway doughnut shops.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis estimated the average UK adult consumed about 270 calories a week from takeaways pre-pandemic.
This increased to 395 calories a week during the first lockdown in 2020, when restaurants, pubs and cafes were forced to close in efforts to curb the spread of Covid.
During the third national lockdown in England in 2021, calorie consumption from takeaways ballooned further to an average of 470 week as more restaurants and pubs switched to accommodate takeaway orders.
Despite the easing of restrictions, however, these levels endured at around 400 calories a week by early 2022 – 48 per cent above pre-pandemic levels.
But researchers also noted the data only covers the period up to the first quarter of 2022 — before the cost of living crisis — meaning takeaway habits may not have survived the sharpest jump in food prices since the 1970s.
Report author Andrew McKendrick, a research economist at the IFS, said: ‘Lockdowns and closures of hospitality left a bigger role for consumption of food at home and for takeaways.
‘But, by the start of 2022, most of these changes had been reversed: households had largely gone back to purchasing as much as they did in 2019.
‘The pandemic did leave one legacy, though, in the much-increased use of takeaways.’
Meanwhile, Katharine Jenner, director of the Obesity Health Alliance, said: ‘This research confirms what is already clear — hot food takeaways are taking over our high streets.
‘The pandemic turbocharged this, and now unhealthy food is so available that it almost unavoidable.
‘We know that on average the portion sizes in these places are much larger than you’d make at home, with more sugar, salt and fat. Consumers can’t even make informed decisions about what they’re buying.
‘Councils need to make high streets healthier by using the planning tools they have available, and national government needs to step up and empower them to do so.’
Latest NHS data shows more than a quarter (26 per cent) of adults in England are obese and a further 38 per cent are overweight but not obese.
Obesity rates have been on the rise for decades, with experts blaming sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets.
Elsewhere across the country, high street retailers have been replaced by dessert bars and gourmet takeaway doughnut shops. Pictured, Bedford high street 10 years ago
The Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis estimated the average UK adult consumed about 270 calories a week from takeaways pre-pandemic. This increased to 395 calories a week during the first lockdown in 2020, when restaurants, pubs and cafes were forced to close in efforts to curb the spread of Covid. Pictured, Bedford high street in 2021 with dessert bars and takeaway coffee chains
They are also soaring in children, with a quarter of children in reception now considered overweight, and one in ten obese.
The NHS now spends an estimated £19billion on treating weight-related health problems, according to the analysis.
Being an unhealthy weight raises the risk of serious and life-threatening conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some cancers and strokes.
It was thought the problem cost Britain in the region of £60billion.
However, an analysis published in December by The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) think-tank found Britain’s obesity crisis now costs the country nearly £100billion per year.
When looking at specific health problems related to being overweight, high blood pressure was the biggest cost – at £171 and £178 per man and woman each year, respectively.
Similarly high figures were recorded for type 2 diabetes and depression, which are both linked with being fat.
Source: Mail Online
