Some 61 per cent of British adults are in denial about their health and resort to telling fibs about their healthy living habits to doctors and family members – especially their mums. This is according to a new survey of 2,000 adults commissioned by KP Nuts.

The new study into the nation’s attitudes towards their wellbeing revealed we tell on average 20 fibs a week regarding our lifestyles. Some 15 per cent have told acquaintances that they are a non-smoker when it wasn’t the case and 13 per cent routinely play down the level of alcohol they consume. A further 12 per cent claim they are a “gym-goer”, regardless of how often they actually frequent the gym.

However, the biggest fib to emerge from the poll was how much water we drink – with 18 per cent claiming they drink more than one litre of it every day when in actual fact they don’t.

Regardless of age, mums are the people we are most likely to lie to about our health to, with 19 per cent of adults not telling their mum the whole truth. But perhaps more worryingly, 19 per cent of people routinely lie to their GP about their lifestyles and 41 per cent fill in medical forms inaccurately to give a better impression. And a total of 36 per cent exaggerate how healthy they are on social media, with men being the worst culprits of this (43 per cent).

When asked why people lie so much about their health, 26 per cent of those polled said it was because of peer pressure and 14 per cent said it was because of celebrity influences.