Surge in number of people in hospital with nutrient deficiencies, NHS figures show

The number of Britons in hospital due to malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies has almost tripled in ten years.

Official figures show that there were more than 800,000 admissions in England and Wales last year with conditions linked to poor diet, including 'Victorian' diseases, scurvy and rickets.

Iron deficiency was the biggest problem, NHS data revealed, with admissions for the bone-weakening condition increasing by 149 percent since 2013.

Experts say the 'shocking' statistics show food poverty is taking a grim toll on the country's health.

But they also warned that the dire situation would only get worse in the coming months as people are forced to make further cuts due to the cost of living crisis.

Malnutrition occurs when a diet does not provide the right amount of nutrients, with unintentional weight loss, low body weight and feeling tired and weak being the main symptoms.

The incidence of these diseases declined in the twentieth century after key vitamins were added to common foods such as breakfast cereals, plant-based milks and margarine.

However, Brits facing these problems have been forced to cut back on fruit and vegetables and eat cheaper junk food, which lacks essential vitamins and minerals.

Analysis of hospital data, shared with The guardResearch found that in 2022/2023 there were 824,519 admissions with a diagnosis linked to at least one nutritional deficiency, compared to 293,686 ten years ago.

More than half of all admissions had iron deficiency as the main diagnosis or as something that was noticed afterwards.

The NHS was treating more than double the number of cases a decade ago, recording 490,005 in 2022/2023, up from 196,685.

The number of cases of patients treated for vitamin B deficiencies – B12, folic acid and other B vitamins – also tripled from 57,406 a decade ago to 167,562 last year.

Protein energy malnutrition, caused by insufficient calories or protein, rose from 5,746 to 9,390 cases.

The figures do not provide a breakdown of the ages of adult patients, or where they are in the country.

However, senior doctors said they were treating more and more children with iron and vitamin deficiencies and rickets, caused by a lack of vitamin D and calcium.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology at University College London, who led a landmark study into health inequalities in England published in 2010, called the figures “truly shocking”.

He told The guard: 'The skeptic in me always wonders: is this real, or is there an increased recognition of the problem? But that huge increase – wow. It seems likely that there must be a real component.”

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, president of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), told the newspaper: 'As a nation we should not have malnourished children. We shouldn't have children with rickets.

'We cannot have people with an iron deficiency or low folate levels. There is a feeling that this is not right; what's going on here?'

Doctors were increasingly faced with “moral problems” over the issue, she said, as “it's not like you can prescribe money or food.”

She added: 'There are certainly cases we hear about where parents are not eating meals so their children can eat. We hear that many people go to the food bank who would never have dreamed of going to a food bank before.'

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence defines a person as malnourished if they have a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.5; or unintentional weight loss of more than 10 percent in the past three to six months.

Those with a BMI of less than 20 and an unintentional weight loss of more than 5 percent of their body weight in the past three to six months are also considered malnourished.

Experts have previously warned that a switch to vegetarian and vegan diets could leave out key ingredients needed to get adequate levels of vitamin B or iron.

Researchers from Queen's University Belfast warned that the use of plant-based diets is contributing to malnutrition in rich countries.

But this is unlikely to fully explain such a substantial increase in iron and B vitamin deficiencies shown in the NHS data, they said today.

However, experts acknowledged that the data does not take into account a possible increase in testing over the past decade.

This could be possible explain the increase in rarer deficiencies, such as vitamin A and thiamine, that are typically monitored in the growing population of bariatric surgery patients, she added.

Rebecca McManamon, a dietitian and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, said testing for iron deficiency was common, including among ER patients suffering from fatigue or shortness of breath.

'Most GPs would request these tests on a daily basis. “It's fair to say there is more awareness, but not enough to explain this increase,” she added.

The NHS warns that malnutrition is a 'common problem' affecting millions of people in Britain, with children under five, over 65 and those with long-term health problems most at risk. One in ten elderly people is malnourished or is at risk of malnutrition.

Earlier this year, doctors warned that the cost of living crisis was causing a rise in cases of malnutrition, with Britons relying on cheap, processed and high-calorie food, leaving them lacking basic vitamins and minerals.

Britons have been told they have just £40 a week to feed their families and are skipping meals due to skyrocketing food prices, as food banks report spikes in demand.

Data from the Department for Work and Pensions last year also showed that around one in six people in Britain were living in relative poverty, measured as 'relatively low income' before housing costs in 2021/2022.