Health specialists have pulled together the results of almost 110 separate scientific and medical research investigations to depict the horrifying picture of what the UK's female populace eats.

It is not only women in their prime stage of their lives who are not getting the right amount of nutrition, which in turn can negatively affect newborns too, but also the poor diet tendency extends to women belonging to all age groups.

The review that has been commissioned by the self-governing body Health Supplements Information Service made the discovery of lack of balanced meals in a country that is hooked on junk food or obsessed with eating fads.

Dietitian Dr. Carrie Ruxton and researcher Dr. Emma Derbyshire of Manchester Metropolitan University reviewed 110 published papers covering women's health for the journal Nutritian Bulletin.

They discovered that even at school age, no less than half of girls aged 11-18 do not get the suggested intake of such minerals as magnesium, which are found in fruits and vegetables, so as to boost energy.

One in four were not getting the right amount of zinc, 30% did not get the needed amount of potassium, 16% were lacking in iodine and approximately half failed to reach suggested levels of iron in their diet.