UK supermarkets including Tesco, Asda and Aldi will soon be subject to new rules in a bid to make shopping baskets "healthier". The Government confirmed earlier this week that it wants to see food retailers and manufacturers "make the healthy choice the easy choice" in a bid to tackle the obesity epidemic and to ease NHS pressures.

This will see larger retailers, including supermarkets, "set to a new standard to make the average shopping basket of goods sold slightly healthier". As part of the new NHS 10 Year Health Plan, businesses will make changes such as tweaking recipes, changing shop layouts, lowering the price of healthy foods, and/or promoting healthier options via loyalty schemes.

Government health chiefs believe if everyone who is overweight reduced their calorie intake by just 216 calories a day, equivalent to a single bottle of fizzy drink, obesity would be halved. Obesity is one of the root causes of diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Obesity rates have doubled since the 1990s, including among children, with more than one in five living with obesity by the time they leave primary school. This jumps up to one in three in areas with higher levels of deprivation and poverty.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting, said: "Obesity ... costs our NHS £11 billion a year, triple the budget for ambulance services. Unless we curb the rising tide of cost and demand, the NHS risks becoming unsustainable.

The good news is that it only takes a small change to make a big difference. This government’s ambition for kids today is for them to be part of the healthiest generation of children ever."

Many supermarkets say they want to do more to make the average shopping basket healthier, but individually they risk slashing their profits if their competitors don't make the changes at the same time. This new standard will introduce a level playing field, government bosses say, so there isn’t a "first mover disadvantage".

Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK’s Chief Executive, said: "Businesses can play a major role in supporting people to make healthy choices, and this important step could help to reduce rising obesity rates. Being overweight or obese is the second biggest cause of cancer in the UK, and is linked with 13 different types of the disease.

"The UK government must introduce further bold preventative policies in both the upcoming 10 Year Health Plan and National Cancer Plan, so that more lives can be saved from cancer."

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