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If Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish people ate more like the English, 4,000 lives a year could be saved.

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A study by Oxford University found that people in England eat more fruit and vegetables and less salt and fat, reducing heart disease and some cancers.

In the reprot experts suggested that a tax on fatty and salty foods, and subsidies on fruit and vegetables could help close the diet divide.

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The British Heart Foundation said these inequalities between the nations must be addressed by authorities.

Death rates for heart disease and cancer are higher in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland than in England, according to official figures.

Oxford University data found that people in Scotland and Northern Ireland ate more saturated fat and salt, and fewer fruit and vegetables, every day than people in England, while differences between England and Wales were smaller.

Over the three years studied there were nearly 22,000 'excess' deaths in total. Scotland had 15,719, Wales 3,723 and Northern Ireland 2,329.

The report said that changing the diet to a typical English one would save about 11,000 of these lives - or just under 4,000 a year.