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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A poor diet kills more than 500,000 Americans and more than 90,000 Britons every year, overtaking smoking and high blood pressure as a risk factor for premature death, a new study reveals.
Researchers have called the "Western diet" rich in red meat, fat and sugar with low volumes of fruits and vegetables, responsible for about five deaths worldwide (10.9 million adults) in 2017, according to the latest data available.
The largest number of diet-related deaths occurred in China and India (more than 3 million and 1 million respectively), followed by Russia with 550,000 deaths.
The United States ranks fourth in the diet-related mortality rate.
The alarming numbers should be a stark reminder of the health risks caused by excessive consumption of red meat and soda, without enough vegetables, according to the researchers.
"Malnutrition is a deadly disease, and a combination of demographic factors, including age, bad, and economic status, affect people," said Ashkan Afshin, an badistant professor at the Institute of Metrology and Health Assessment of the University of Washington.
Cardiovascular disease, including stroke and heart attack, is the leading cause of death, followed by cancer and type 2 diabetes.
Researchers attribute the low consumption of healthy foods, such as nuts, seeds, milk and whole grains, to increased consumption of processed meat, salt and soda.
Dr. Afshin, who wrote a global research paper on obesity in 2017, said the latest study shows that excessive consumption of fat, sugar and salt causes chronic health problems, whatever their impact on the weight of the individual.
More than 130 scientists from nearly 40 countries contributed to the most comprehensive badysis of its kind.
In comparison, smoking was badociated with 8 million deaths, while high blood pressure was badociated with 10.4 million deaths.
The diet caused 9 million and 497,300 deaths from cardiovascular disease, 91,130 deaths from cancer, 33,800 deaths from diabetes and 136,600 kidney diseases.
The study, published in "Lancet", indicates that the consumption of a small amount of whole grains and fruits as well as a high salt consumption are responsible for more than half of all deaths. Other causes of death were high consumption of red meat, sweetened processed beverages and unsaturated fatty acids in canned foods such as cakes.
The researchers pointed out that it was urgent to make changes in the different sectors of the food production cycle, such as growth, processing, packaging and marketing.
On average, the world's population has eaten only 12% of the recommended amount of nuts and seeds, about 3 grams of average daily consumption, compared to the required amount of 21 grams.
The researchers said the scale of food-related illnesses had shown that many current campaigns were ineffective and therefore called for new interventions of the food system to rebalance diets around the world.
Source: Daily Mail
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