Surge in number of people in hospital with nutrient deficiencies, NHS figures show

Exclusive: number of people in England and Wales admitted to hospital with deficiencies triples in 10 years

• Overfed and undernourished: what is malnutrition and nutrient deficiency?

More than 800,000 patients were admitted to hospital with malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies last year, a threefold increase on 10 years ago, according to NHS figures that have prompted warnings about the devastating health impact of food insecurity.

Hospital data for England and Wales, obtained by the Guardian, reveals a startling rise in diagnoses linked to poor diet in the past decade, with nearly half a million admissions of patients with iron deficiencies, hundreds of thousands suffering from vitamin deficiencies and more than 10,000 cases of malnutrition last year.