Yorkshire Puddings are good for you: official!

As winter closes in, it is natural to want to fill up on warming dinners – like a traditional roast dinner – so it’s comforting to hear that English food comes top in a survey of the healthiest cuisine in the UK.

According to a report by the British Medial Journal, English people eat less salt and more fruit and vegetables than the Welsh, Scottish and Irish, making them less susceptible to diet-related illness like cancer and heart disease.

The English diet may not be quite as healthy as vegetable-heavy Mediterranean cuisine, fish-rich Japanese dishes or the French habit of washing meals down with heart-friendly red wine, but it is estimated that eight out of 10 diet related deaths, in Scotland, Ireland and Wales could have been prevented by following a typical English diet.

Sian Porter, spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, said: ‘This is about adopting dietary patterns, which people living in England seem to have, including eating less salt.’

‘The current UK dietary recommendations – five portions of fruit and vegetables a day; two portions of fish a week; smaller portions of lean meat and one meat-free day a week – are similar to the Mediterranean diet, which is regularly held up as the ideal example of a healthy and balanced diet. In some respects this study is quite encouraging – people are eating fewer calories but we shouldn’t get carried away because we are all still eating too much saturated fat.’