OBESITY - We're eating less but still getting fatter

We're eating less but still getting fatter: Couch potato lifestyle means Britons are still among most obese in Europe

• - Since 1980 spending on home food has dropped up to 30 per cent
• - Since 2005 spending per adult on food has also fallen
• - As obesity continues rising researchers blame our 'couch potato' lives
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By SOPHIE BORLAND

PUBLISHED: 00:42 GMT, 4 November 2013 | UPDATED: 09:09 GMT, 4 November 2013

We’re spending less on food and eating fewer calories.

But with a couch potato lifestyle, Britons are still among the most obese in Europe.

The economic crunch is partly to blame as researchers state that, as the purse strings tightened, the quality of the food we buy has suffered.

While we are now spending less money per adult on food, obesity is still increasing thanks in part to our increasingly lazy lifestyles

But they say poor diet is not the only reason and insist a lack of physical activity also has a part to play.

According to a study for the Institute of Fiscal Studies, families have cut the cost of their food bills and are spending less on fruit and vegetables  –  and filling up on processed foods.

The study calculated that since 1980 the amount of calories being bought by each household to eat in the home had fallen by 15 to 30 per cent.

Between 2005 and 2007, the average household spent £102 a month on food per adult but this fell to £93.30 from 2010 to 2012.

Researcher Melanie Luhrmann said: ‘We were surprised to find that there has been a substantial decline in total calories purchased at a time when obesity has increased.

‘Purchases of snack foods, soft drinks and food out have increased, and now account for a greater share of calories for most households.

Though food spending has dropped, so has quality, with more people opting for fatty or processed food

‘However, calories purchased for consumption at home have declined strongly and account for the bulk of households’ food purchases.

‘This does not mean that poor diet plays no part in rising obesity. But understanding the interaction between diet and physical activity is clearly crucial.’ 

Kate Smith, a research economist at the think-tank, added: ‘Over the recession households have responded to higher food prices and the squeezes on their incomes by switching to cheaper calories. 

'This has coincided with a fall in the nutritional quality of foods purchased, with moves away from fresh fruit and vegetables and towards processed foods. 

'As a result, the average saturated fat and sugar content of food purchases has increased.’

The researchers, who studied spending habits of 15,850 adults, calculated that the average adult eats 2g more of saturated fat a day compared to eight years ago – Government guidelines state women should eat a maximum of 20g and men no more than 30g.

Last week, the World Health Organisation warned that 1 in 4 adult Britons is considered too fat.