The UK Faculty of Public Health (FPH) has found that poor diet as a result of poverty has caused the return of old diseases like rickets and gout.
The findings are worrying as they highlight just how bad some peoples eating habits have become due to financial constraints.
Doctors and hospitals have seen a rise in the amount of children suffering from these types of ailments and The Faculty has linked this new trend to the inability of parents to afford food of a decent quality.
There has been a rise, according to figures, of 19% in the amount of people in England and Wales who have been admitted to hospital because of malnutrition in the last 12 months.
Dr Middleton, of the FPH, has said that The Faculty will be making calls to bring in legislation that will aim to tackle this problem.
Rickets is usually caused by a lack of calcium and vitamin D when growing up, a sign that the children developing this disease are not eating properly.
It has also recently been estimated that over 10% of working parents have had to skip meals in order to have enough money to cover the bills.
Unhealthy foods are unfortunately the cheaper ones, in most cases, and this is also thought to have lent to the obesity crisis as people rely on cheap, fast food to get by, being unable to afford better quality food.
Food banks are doing what they can to alleviate food poverty, but they often have tinned or dried food as it is cheap and can help more people but they can fail to deliver the main nutrients needed to avoid certain diseases.
