PARIS: Thousands more people living in Britain are at risk of dying from heart attacks and strokes in the decade after Britain leaves the European Union as the cost of imported fruit and vegetables soars, new research warned Tuesday.
Britain is due to exit the EU on March 29 and it is far from certain what sort of deal — if any — Prime Minister Theresa May will be able to strike and what effect that may have on trade.
It is heavily reliant on food imports, particularly fruit and vegetables, and research published in the journal BMJ Open forecasts a widespread fall in consumption under all Brexit scenarios — as well as a concomitant long-term health risk.
In the event of a no-deal Brexit, in which Britain crashes out of the union with no agreement on future trading ties, scientists from London’s Imperial College predicted as many as 12,400 additional cardiovascular deaths over the next 10 years in England.
“Under World Trade Organization rules, the price of bananas would go up 17 percent, oranges by 14 percent and the fruits we import the most are obviously going to be the most sensitive in terms of price increases,” said Christopher Millet, from Imperial’s public health policy evaluation unit and lead study author.
“Under (no deal) we expect 12,400 extra deaths between 2021 and 2030 and even with a free trade arrangement we expect around 6,000 more combined stroke and heart attack deaths,” he told the media.
The British Heart Foundation says around 42,000 people die in Britain from cardiovascular diseases every year.
Fruits and vegetables contain vital nutrients from fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, that successive trials have shown to aid health cardiovascular function.
In 2017 Britain imported 84 percent of all fruit and 48 percent of the vegetables it consumed. A large proportion of these came from EU nations — such as citrus from Spain.
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