Report highlights costs of malnutrition

The British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition although malnutrition costs the UK more than twice as much as obesity it is given a much lower priority by the government. Its research indicates that around 30 per cent of patients in hospitals and nursing homes are clinically malnourished, while more than three million people across the whole population suffers – including 10 per cent of those aged over 65 and living in the community. The BAPEN says it costs £3.8 billion a year to treat the malnourished in hospital, and £2.6 billion to treat them in long-term care facilities.

BBC