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Nicola Haseler\/BBC<\/p>\nNicola Haselerin Letchworth Garden City<\/p>\n
Nicola Haseler\/BBC<\/p>\n
Graham Phillips said pharmacies were well placed to advise on diet and cutting back medication<\/p>\n
A community pharmacy is encouraging patients to make changes to their diet and lifestyle before turning to medication for many preventable diseases.<\/p>\n
Graham Phillips, who owns the Letchworth Pharmacy in the Hertfordshire garden city, has won several awards for his programme, which helps people prevent or reverse diabetes and obesity.<\/p>\n
He said he wants to put an end to what he calls an over-reliance on drugs for conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity and depression.<\/p>\n
The independently-owned pharmacy won Community Pharmacy of the Year in 2024 for its innovative ways to support patients. <\/p>\n
‘All about nutrition’<\/p>\n
Phillips said the vision of the NHS set up by Labour health minister Aneurin Bevan in 1948<\/a> – to create a healthy population – had been lost and community pharmacies had a role to play.<\/p>\n “We’ve ended up with a ‘national illness service’, not a ‘national health service’, and I want to turn that on its head,” he said. <\/p>\n The NHS now spends \u00a320bn on medicine<\/a> each year, which Phillips said could be reduced.<\/p>\n “The pharmaceutical industry doesn’t want you to know that if you ate the right food, you wouldn’t need their drugs,” he added.<\/p>\n For Phillips, a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, good health starts with nutrition.<\/p>\n “We’re eating ultra-processed calories, which are making us fat and sick, and then we’re spooning more and more tablets into people, and they’re just getting fatter and sicker more slowly,” he continued. <\/p>\n He said the wrong food leaves people hungry and dissatisfied, so they eat more of it. <\/p>\n “Then we end up with metabolic dysfunction… which increases your risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and dementia,” he added. <\/p>\n ‘Medicines remain essential’<\/p>\n Dr Amit Aggarwal from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said: “The pharmaceutical industry fully supports measures that reduce the burden of disease wherever possible \u2013 prevention is better than cure. <\/p>\n “However, medicines remain an essential part of care for many patients, and it’s vital they are used only when needed and for the right duration.”<\/p>\n An NHS spokesperson said: “If you are considering stopping a medication, you should consult your GP or the healthcare professional who prescribed it before making any changes.”<\/p>\n As well as dispensing prescriptions, Letchworth Pharmacy encourages people to consider other ways to improve their health<\/p>\n Phillips now explains to patients how they could “eat themselves healthy”. <\/p>\n “I tell people ‘it’s absolutely not your fault \u2013 you’re hungry because you’re putting the wrong fuel in your body’,” he said.<\/p>\n About 60% of calories in the average Briton’s diet<\/a> come from ultra-processed foods, which are low in nutrition, he said.<\/p>\n He added that his beliefs were a departure from traditional pharmaceutical practices.<\/p>\n “Too many people are on anti-depressants and anti-hypertensives because their blood pressure’s a bit high, and then a diabetes drug, and then coming in over the top is the new weight-loss jabs – you don’t even have to change your diet,” he continued.<\/p>\n Clinical trials by Cambridge University and University College London have shown that while effective for fat loss, more than 40% of the weight lost<\/a> on the jabs is muscle and bone.<\/p>\n “What I’m seeing is women’s periods are stopping, hair is falling out… and they’re now at risk of osteopenia<\/a> and sarcopenia<\/a>,” said Phillips. <\/p>\n “In other words, if you lose bone and muscle, you’re hastening your demise, and you burn fewer calories.”<\/p>\n He added: “We get people off a lot of medication and we don’t make them feel judged in any way. <\/p>\n “We provide the information, and if that’s the path they want to take, we’re here to support them… it’s an obvious role for community pharmacies to play.”<\/p>\n Mark Freer said he knew he needed to lose weight to improve his arthritis<\/p>\n Mark Freer, who collects his pain medication from Letchworth Pharmacy, said he was open to advice on healthy eating.<\/p>\n “I’m 56, I’m a big fat bloke, and I want to live for as long as I possibly can, so I think it’s a brilliant idea, and it takes a weight off the NHS,” he said.<\/p>\n “It’s too easy to go to the fish and chip shop or kebab shop. I’ve got arthritis in both ankles and if I lost four or five stone I’d be lighter on my feet.”<\/p>\n![\"Nicola](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/6a949f50-f2db-11f0-9e08-158695af1892.jpg.webp.webp\")
Nicola Haseler\/BBC<\/p>\n![\"Nicola](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4bc532a0-f2e6-11f0-b8a1-43fe5a262db0.jpg.webp.webp\")
Nicola Haseler\/BBC<\/p>\n