In England, the harms from tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy food have reached unacceptable levels. The damage caused by these products is serious and often grave. They are the leading risk factors for preventable death1 and disease such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, and are key drivers of the stark health inequalities within our society. Alcohol alone is linked to more than 200 illnesses, including seven types of cancer.2 Deaths from alcohol are at an all-time high, having risen exponentially during the pandemic with a 27.4% increase between 2019 and 2021.3
The growing burden of preventable disease threatens not just our health, but also our national health services and economic prosperity. Millions of hospital admissions every year are a direct result of illness caused by tobacco (506 000 admissions),4 alcohol (980 000 admissions),5 and obesity (1 020 000 admissions).6 These are demands that our NHS and frontline services are ill equipped to meet. Added to
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