Fatty food may be to blame for Ebbw Vale’s title as the ‘UK’s fattest town’, according to recent investigations.
It’s 22 years since Britain’s five-a-day campaign was launched encouraging people to have at least five portions of fruit or vegetables.
But for some families living in the former South Wales steel town it’s two-a-day takeaways.
In a viral YouTube video one social media influencer, popular for his health content, sparked shock after revealing that of the town’s 75 eateries, 55 are classed as fast food outlets.
By contrast, Ebbw Vale has just one traditional greengrocers, Fresh ‘N’ Fruity.
Visiting the town Callum Airey—better known online as Calfreezy—found the lack of affordable healthy food vendors in the area has heavily contributed to the growing number of expanding waistlines.
Figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) show roughly eight in ten people in the county are classed as either overweight or obese.
In the video, Callum who boasts more than 4.4million followers, said: ‘The food options in Ebbw Vale were clearly a massive problem.
Visiting the town Callum Airey—better known online as Calfreezy—found the lack of affordable healthy food vendors in the area has heavily contributed to the growing number of expanding waistlines
Figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) show roughly eight in ten people in the county are classed as either overweight or obese. Pictured, the former South Wales steel town Ebbw Vale
‘It was mainly populated with fast food chains like Gregg’s, kebab shops and Dominoes, there was a real lack of healthy food options.
‘The fact there’s only one fresh fruit and veg shop, everything else is either frozen food or fast food says it all.
‘It looks like a lot of people here often turn to vices like unhealthy foods and drugs.
‘Fruit is more expensive than a sausage roll in Greggs.’
Other takeaway options the town’s 19,500 inhabitants can opt for include fish and chip shops, Indian takeaways and burger joints.
Visiting one Dominoes Pizza branch, a worker told Callum one customer had visited three times in a row in a single week.
‘It was two wraps and a set of cookies each day every single day. But it was a different wrap per day,’ he said.
‘We have lots of regular customers that come in at least once a week.’
Visiting one Dominoes Pizza branch, a worker told Callum one customer had visited three times in a row in a single week
This map highlights the areas most blighted by obesity
At another kebab shop, an employee also claimed some regular customers visit up to twice a day.
Speaking to residents one told Callum: ‘Takeaways and fast food places are the only options round here.’
A second said: ‘There are too many fast food restaurants around.’
Another, also noted: ‘Our generation doesn’t know how to cook. McDonald’s is too easy.
‘We rely on frozen foods like pizzas and easy ready meals.’
Figures show four out of five people in the county were classified as overweight or obese, defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher.
The percentage of those with a BMI of 25 or stood at 79.9.
By contrast, the Welsh national average is considerably lower at 62 per cent.
Obesity has been well established as increasing the risk of serious health conditions that can damage the heart, such as high blood pressure, as well as cancers.
It has been estimated to cause one in 20 cancer cases in Britain, according to the Cancer Research UK.
Britain’s obesity crisis is also estimated to cost the nation nearly £100billion per year.
This colossal figure includes the health harms on the NHS as well as secondary economic effects like lost earnings from people taking time off work due to illness and early deaths.
Earlier this year, doctors also warned that cheap junk food diets are behind a ‘very concerning’ spike in the number of people being hospitalised for vitamin deficiency.
Hundreds of thousands of people in England have received treatment in wards for health problems linked to a lack of vital nutrients in the last year alone.
Health chiefs say the reliance on easy and filling fast foods has fuelled a 10-fold increase in those needing hospital care because of an absence of nourishment in their daily diets.
NHS figures show a dramatic rise in people with a main diagnosis of anaemia—caused by lack of iron—and B vitamin deficiencies.
Symptoms of iron deficiency include being very pale, irritability, fatigue, increased heart rate, sore or swollen tongue, and enlarged spleen. The condition can cause heart failure if left untreated.
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