Unhealthy eating costs around 17 billion euros annually

Unhealthy eating costs German health care almost 17 billion euros
In recent years, numerous studies came to the conclusion: Many Germans eat unhealthy. Above all, they consume too much sugar, salt and fats. Due to the unhealthy diet, the German health care system incurs costs of almost 17 billion euros per year.  

Costs of almost 17 billion euros a year
According to a new study, an unhealthy diet with too much sugar, salt and fats costs the German health care system more than 16.8 billion euros annually. As the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the biotechnology company Brain AG have discovered in the joint scientific work, the highest costs are caused by diseases of the cardiovascular system, caries, metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity as well as various cancers , Many consumers do not realize how unhealthy salt, sugar and fat are. Health experts refer to these three together with alcohol as the "evil four".

Unhealthy diets burden the social funds. Picture: dusk - fotolia

Study authors see enormous savings potential
"The direct costs of nutritionally-related diseases due to the over-consumption of salt, sugar and fat are substantial," study author Dr. Toni Meier from the University of Halle-Wittenberg. "However, there is also a significant savings potential in the previously less well-attended sequelae and follow-up costs of obesity and diabetes - these range from weight-related osteoarthritis to sleep disorders, Alzheimer's and chronic kidney failure," the expert continues. For the study, the researchers analyzed the representative medical expenses and consumption data for Germany and calculated the proportionate costs of an imbalanced intake of sugar, salt and saturated fats. According to the information, the consumption of these three groups of substances in Germany is often well above the official recommendations of the German Nutrition Society (DGE). In this context, 22 different clinical pictures were examined. The results were recently published in the journal "PLOS ONE".

New natural products could help
According to co-author Martin Langer of Brain AG, the health care system in Germany alone could be relieved of an annual sum of between five and six billion euros, if it could manage, about one third of the sugar, fat or salt in the food recipes to replace with new natural substances. Indirect costs, such as lost time, medical treatment and disability, were not included in the study. And probably not the deaths that are favored by the wrong diet. However, a recent study on the financial impact of tobacco use has already done so. The study of Karlsruhe researchers came to the conclusion that smokers financially relieve the German society by an earlier death. (Ad)