The difference in healthy life between the UK's wealthiest and poorest

We need to add more life to years, not just years to life.

June 30, 2023

There are 19 years difference in healthy life between the wealthiest and poorest areas in the UK. Healthy sustainable diets can add life to years, and not just years to life.

So just to clarify here:

🔢 Life expectancy is the total number of years.
💪 Healthy life expectancy is the total number of years a person lives in good health.

Often we cite long life expectancy, when really we would likely prefer a long healthy life expectancy.

This is not to decry to incredible improvements we have made globally to increasing life expectancy but it is shocking that the average girl at birth in Blackpool today is expected to have 55 years of healthy life on average.

Diet and nutrition are key contributors to this challenge. For example NHS England Digital Profession report that a quarter of UK adults are obese, and Diabetes UK find that number of people with diabetes has more than doubled in the last 15 years[2].

And ill-health includes mental health. We’re increasingly discovering how important diet and gut health are for mood and healthy brain aging (https://lnkd.in/eWM5jDUm)

So there is a pressing need to transform to healthy, equitable food systems for longer healthy lives for all We need to make these foods the most accessible option.

And there’s a win-win here:

If we all ate a healthy diet, we’d be eating a more sustainable diet.

For example, if the UK diet shifted to the Public Health England’s Eatwell guide, The Carbon Trust estimates we would reduce environmental footprint by 32%.

So lets push for healthier diets for all. In doing so, we’ll contribute to a healthier planet too.

Graphic above adapted from The Health Foundation