Did The Junk Food Habits Of Britishers Intensified The Coronavirus Crisis?

Summary

• Obese and overweight Britishers are among the 6 in every 10 deaths caused due to COVID-19 infection
• Food companies used the pandemic as a tool to raise the sales of their junk food items

Experts suggest that junk foods habits of Britishers have intensified the country’s coronavirus disaster, as the virus has taken more lives of infected obese people than healthy ones.

Obese and overweight Britishers accounts for 6 in every 10 deaths caused due to COVID-19 infection, according to a recent analysis by the Queen Mary University of London, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on June 10, 2020. Not just that, there are 8 obese people out of every 10-coronavirus diagnosed, it added.

Obesity is a big health concern in the UK, with people having unhealthy eating and drinking habits. Prolonged obesity can lead to various other disorders like heart diseases, lung disease, high blood pressure and even cancer.

Parallel studies conducted during the lockdown period have also found that junk food consumption has risen especially for children, and there are added fears that coronavirus pandemic can increase the already upsetting trend of childhood obesity. Lockdown behaviour of children is seen similar to the times like summer holidays when their intake of shelf-stable food rises. Physical activity levels of the kids have also tended to go down with the lockdown restrictions in place.

Global statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveal that obesity has almost tripled in the world as compared to its levels in the year 1975, and that it is a disturbing trend.

In fact, the food habits of Britishers have worsened after the coronavirus entered Britain, and especially post the lockdown. Food companies used the pandemic as an opportunity to raise the sales of their junk food items. They have, in fact been running such campaigns to up their marketing of junk foods and beverages. University research has advised Governments around the world to stop promoting and advertising unhealthy food. Sugar, salt and saturated fat levels should be brought down to acceptable levels that do not impact human health adversely. This move will ensure a reduction in Covid-19 related deaths as well as boost the immunity of people against many other chronic diseases.

People resorted to panic buying, after the lockdown was imposed to stop the coronavirus spread, due to the fear of supply chain disruptions causing short-term food shortages. Further, by remaining locked inside their homes, without being able to go to offices and schools, people played games online, got hooked to the television and consumed even more junk food than what they usually do.

Earlier, in the year 2019 as well, the British Medical Journal had published research which gave evidence of a correlation between processed foods and many health risks, including heart diseases and death.

However, Food and Drinks Federation (FDF) of the UK defends its position, with FDF’s CEO Tim Rycoft claiming that the industry has only tried to keep people well-fed during the testing corona times. The industry is already a part of various Government initiatives to tackle the obesity challenge in the UK. He said that due to the FDF’s initiatives, its member products are already packed with 14 percent less salt, and 11 percent reduced sugar content.

Recently, another independent group named Action on Sugar and Action of Salt suggested measures to reduce obesity in Britain. The prominent ones out of them are advertising and promoting only healthy foods and beverages, fiscal stimulus to support healthy foods, mandatory food labelling and creating an independent, health food watchdog.

Now, let us look at the performance of few food and beverages companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Britvic Plc (LON:BVIC) – A soft drink manufacturing based in England, Britvic plc is a part of the FTSE 250 Index at the LSE. It is also the bottler of Pepsico beverages in the UK. The company’s pre-tax profits rose by 11.5 percent to £38.9 million, for the 26 weeks ended 31 March, as per its latest financial results. Britvic’s at-home pack of drinks’ sale has been rising during the lockdown period across Britain. The company’s stock was trading at GBX 783.15, down by 0.44 percent on June 11, 2020 at 12:09 pm GMT.

Domino's Pizza Group Plc (LON:DOM) – The UK based group, franchise of global fast- food delivery chain Domino’s Pizza. The company also has an agreement to have franchises in Switzerland. The company has been running 1100 pizza stores across the United Kingdom.

Online sales accounted for more than 90 percent of the total company sales in 2019. Sales for the company were £1,210.9 million for the year 2019 (January to December) for the UK and Ireland, as compared to £1,155.4 million during 2018. Statutory profit for the year 2019 (continuing and discontinued operations) was reported at £2.8 million. The Domino's Pizza company stock traded at GBX 334.20, down by 1.71 percent on 11 Jun at 12.21 pm GMT.

Kerry Group Plc (LON:KYGA) – The company is into producing and distributing foods and beverages across the UK, and stock of the company traded at EUR 106.10, down by 2.75 percent on 11 Jun, 1:30 pm GMT.

Greggs plc (LON:GRG) – The leading bakery chain of Britain, is adjusting to serving customers fast while keeping staff safe from any corona infection, by allowing only one adult customer at a time. It is also beginning to deliver via the Click & Collect platform. The company’s stock was trading at GBX1,683.84, down by 2.61 percent on 11 Jun at 2:31 pm GMT.

It is becoming increasingly clear with various studies conducted across the world that obesity is a leading cause of various diseases like cardiovascular, lung disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. It is also now being linked to a rise in spreading coronavirus infections in the UK and a leading cause of death, as it lowers the human body’s immunity to fight with the infection. Fast food companies raised their marketing campaigns during lockdown times, and with the panic factor of food availability, with disruptions in supply chains, people bought more junk food and consumed it. Studies now suggest Government should reformulate guidelines with respect to unhealthy foods and drinks and bring down the acceptable levels of sugar, salt and saturated fat intake.