BLOATED Brits piled on an extra 5lb gorging on fried food, puddings and booze in lockdown, research shows.
The amount of unhealthy food that they ordered rose by 11 per cent while eating vegetables plunged by a fifth.
A study of supermarket and takeaway ordering concluded people turned to comfort food to alleviate stress in the pandemic.
And experts are now concerned this may affect the future of health in general.
Prof Sumit Agarwal, from Singapore University, said: “We looked at real food orders and this reflected changes in habits.
“Unhealthy eating behaviour formed during the pandemic could result in undesirable long-term health consequences, such as coronary heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.”
He studied 42,495 food orders of 11,372 customers and 462 takeaways in Singapore, but thinks results will be similar globally.
An NHS study found people joining a weight-loss scheme are now 5lb heavier than pre-Covid.
But researchers noted there is a significant amount of data missing on the expanding size of our waistlines because people have been unable to see their doctor in person.
The NHS fears the true scale of Britain’s belt-busting obesity epidemic is unknown.
It is estimated 2lb of weight gain increases the risk of type 2 diabetes by some eight per cent.
Diabetes UK says growing obesity will cause an estimated 39,000 extra people to suffer a heart attack by 2035, and 50,000-plus will have a stroke.
