Sugar and salt tax: The strategy to overcome the junk food cycle

An independent review of our consumption and production suggested the world's first sugar and salt taxes.

"Our high obesity rate has been a major factor in the UK's tragically high death rate," said Henry Dimbleby, who led the report's National Dietary Policy.

The report also calls on the government to carry out studies allowing GPs to prescribe fruit and vegetables to patients with bad nutrition or an uncertain diet.

According to report author Henry Dimbleby: "The food system is a logistical miracle, full of amazing, inventive people.

The report warned that illnesses caused by bad diets cost the economy an estimated £74 billion a year and place a huge burden on the NHS, while the foodstuffs we eat cause about a quarter of greenhouse gases and are the principal driver of habitat loss and wildlife loss.

The new report warns what humans eat and how it's produced is causing 'terrible damage' to the environment and health, contributes to 64.000 deaths a year in Britain, and drives wildlife loss and climate change.