A study by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) shows that three out of four GPs lack the time to offer preventive care to patients.
A poll of 2,000 members of the public found that 64% trust their GP for advice on healthy living.
However, a separate survey of RCGP members conducted last year found that 75% of GP respondents said they do not have enough time to offer advice on lifestyle, vaccinations, and self-care.
The findings come as the RCGP has urged governments across the UK to ensure general practice has the resources it needs to deliver more preventive care.
The report, "The General Practice role in evidence-based and equitable prevention", argues that a stronger preventive approach could lead to better patient outcomes, reduced health inequalities, fewer avoidable hospital admissions and a more sustainable NHS.
The major recommendations include, increasing the proportion of NHS funding going to general practice, and training.
Retaining enough GPs and practice staff to deliver proactive preventive care, including having enough time with patients and supporting continuity of care.
Redesigning incentive frameworks in general practice to better prioritise a proactive, holistic approach.
RCGP President Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown said: "Governments across the UK want more focus on prevention. This is the right ambition for patients, the NHS, and society as a whole.
"But prevention must be evidence-based and properly evaluated. Our report sets out what needs to change to remove the barriers GPs face, so we can give our patients preventive care that genuinely improves their health."
"Prevention doesn't happen by accident. It requires time, capacity, and trusted relationships with patients – and our polling shows just how much people trust their GP for advice about healthy living.
"At a time when people are increasingly turning to online sources for information, it's reassuring that GPs – and not AI chatbots or social media influencers – remain such a trusted source of health advice."
RCGP Vice President Dr Munro Stewart said: "Preventing avoidable illness is something we can all get behind. GPs and our teams are already doing a huge amount of preventive work from evidence-based screening and vaccination programmes, to managing risk factors and chronic disease, and supporting people to stop smoking.
"But effective prevention requires time and capacity. General practice is already beyond capacity, and if governments want to give prevention greater priority, they need to invest in the frontline capacity needed to deliver it."
This report comes at a time when recent figures suggest healthy life expectancy (HLE) is reducing overall, while the inequality gap in HLE has widened.
Those living in the most deprived areas can expect to live 51.1 years (males) and 50.5 (females) in good health, compared to 70.1 years (males) and 70.2 (females) in the leastdeprived areas.
