€1.5bn of health costs due to poor public diet

THE country’s already struggling finances are being drained of at least €1.5 billion every year as a direct result of poor public nutrition standards and related conditions.

Speaking at a conference on nutritional values in UCD, Professor Marinos Elia, from the Institute of Human Nutrition in Southampton, warned that despite a lack of focus the issue could potentially cripple health services.

According to the leading expert, during 2007 the huge sum of money was spent every year to treat a series of malnutrition issues in the health service.

The figure, which represented 11% of the health service budget during the period, is twice that of the cost from obesity-related illnesses and includes debilitating conditions such as diabetes, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease.

Prof Elia said malnourished patients spend an average of 25%-75% longer in hospital during visits, have a higher rate of re-admittance, and are prescribed more antibiotics than the majority of groups.

However, despite clear concerns over the state of the public’s diet, he warned that little to no attention has been paid to the situation.

“Malnutrition is frequently unrecognised and untreated and this is to the significant detriment of individuals, healthcare systems and society,” Prof Elia told the Nutrition and Health in an Ageing Population conference, organised by the university’s Institute of Food and Health.

“In the UK, we calculated the cost of malnutrition to be over €16bn in 2007, or just over 10% of the annual healthcare budget.

“A similar exercise has just been done to calculate the cost of malnutrition in Ireland using data from Irish studies and applying Irish healthcare costs and healthcare utilisation data to the model.

“The result was that treating malnourished patients in Ireland in 2007 alone cost in excess of €1.5bn.

“This represents 11% of the total Irish healthcare budget and although this seems a massive figure, is not out of line with findings from the UK,” he said.

The institute will hold a series of policy seminars over the coming months.

Leading international authorities from a range of disciplines are due to voice their concerns over public health issues affecting Department of Health and HSE policies.