More than 40,000 Britons are dying unnecessarily every year because of high levels of salt and fat in their diets, a government health watchdog has warned. In a landmark guidance to the government, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said that junk food have wreaked a "terrible toll of ill health" on Britain and placed a "substantial" strain on the economy.

The organisation calls for sweeping changes to food production and government policy to encourage lifestyle changes, and to reduce the amount of salt and saturated fat the nation consumes. It says "toxic" artificial fats known as trans fats should be banned. The organisation says that the government should consider introducing legislation if food manufacturers fail to make their products healthier.

The health watchdog says there are about 5 million people in the country suffering the effects of cardiovascular disease and that it causes 150,000 deaths annually. It says 40,000 of these deaths could be prevented, and hundreds of millions of pounds saved, if its measures were introduced.