Poor diet now causes more deaths globally than tobacco smoking and high blood pressure; a research showed and noted that lack of healthy foods in our diets, along with high levels of salt is responsible for more deaths than any other risk factor in the world.
Eleven million deaths worldwide – or one in five deaths globally in 2017, were linked to people eating poor diets high in sugar, salt and processed meat that contributed to heart disease, cancer and diabetes, according to a research published in the Lancet medical journal.
It found that among 195 countries studied, the proportion of diet-related deaths was highest in Uzbekistan and lowest in Israel. The United States ranked 43rd, while Britain was 23rd, China 140th and India 118th.
Consumption of healthier foods such as nuts and seeds, milk and whole grains was on average too low, and people consumed too many sugary drinks and too much processed meat and salt.
The study was part of the yearly ‘Global Burden of Disease’ report, prepared by a consortium of thousands of researchers that tracks premature death and disability from more than 350 diseases and injuries in some 195 countries.
The study tracked trends from 1990 to 2017 of consumption of 15 dietary factors. Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, which led the work, said it “affirms what many have thought for several years”.
“Poor diet is responsible for more deaths than any other risk factor in the world,” he said and added “Our assessment suggests the leading dietary risk factors are high intake of sodium, or low intake of healthy foods, such as whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds and vegetables.”
The study found people ate only 12% of the recommended amount of nuts and seeds - an average intake of 3 grams a day, compared with the recommended 21grams - and drank more than 10 times the recommended amount of sugary drinks.
High levels of unhealthy red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans-fatty acids and salt – all known to be health risks – were compared with the effects of a diet low in many healthy foods.
Healthy items surveyed included fruits, vegetables, whole grains, milk, calcium, nuts and seeds, fibre, legumes or beans, omega-3 fatty acids from seafood, and polyunsaturated fats, the good-for-you fats found in salmon, vegetable oils and some nuts and seeds.
In fact, more than half of all global diet-related deaths in 2017 were due to just three risk factors: eating too much salt, not enough whole grains and not enough fruit.
According to Ashkan Afshin, an assistant professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and lead author of the report, those risks held true regardless of socioeconomic level of most nations.
The findings should encourage people to try to eat better and policymakers to create and promote policies that aim to increase consumption of healthful foods. If not, poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle may shave years off our lives!
