Tens of thousands of people in England were hospitalised with malnutrition last year, according to reports in The Times.
Provisional data obtained by the newspaper’s Health Commission under freedom of information laws reveal that cases of malnutrition have more than doubled in a decade and have quadrupled since 2007/8.
From 2022 to April 2023, 10,896 NHS patients — including 312 children — were hospitalised with the condition in England.
It comes as doctors warn of that the cost of living crisis has also led to a rise in “Victorian” illnesses such as scurvy and rickets.
Figures show that 171 people were treated for scurvy and 482 patients were admitted with rickets, 405 of them children.
Scurvy is a disease caused by severe vitamin C deficiency, typically in the elderly, while rickets is caused by prolonged vitamin D deficiency, typically in children.
Dr Clare Gerada, president of the Royal College of GPs, said: “The poorest people in this country are poorer than any other counterparts in Europe . . . and it’s poor diet.
“The most common reason a child under five has a general anaesthetic now is for dental care, so that’s a sign of malnutrition.
“This isn’t about the health system, it’s about the social determinants of ill health, indicative of the last 15 years of austerity.”
Gerada said the obesity epidemic was another indicator of malnutrition, with most children who are obese more likely to be vitamin D deficient “because they’re not getting the right calories”.
“People are doing without. Parents are struggling to do the basics for their children. We’re going back to a situation where unless we look after our poor, we’re going to end up with more of these diseases of the Victorian era,” she said.
“We won’t end up like the Victorians because it’ll all be sorted by a tablet but it’s a sad environment that we have to sort out poverty by giving out vitamin supplements.”
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