Scots eating more fruit and veg would reduce the health gap with England.
Around 4,000 deaths could be prevented every year if the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish adopted the average diet eaten in England, Oxford University researchers have calculated. The chief factor that is driving the 'mortality gap' between the home nations is fruit and vegetables, the researchers say. Consumption of fruit and vegetables in Scotland is around 12% lower than in England, and it is about 20% lower in Northern Ireland. The Welsh eat about the same amount as the English. Other important factors are salt and saturated fat, which feature more in Scottish, Welsh and Irish diets than English diets. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation and published in the medical journal BMJ Open . Peter Scarborough of the Department of Public Health at Oxford University, who led the study, said: 'Small improvements in dietary quality in Scotland and Northern Ireland (and, to a lesser degree, Wales) could result in substantial narrowing of health inequalities within the United Kingdom.
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