A study shows that the food we eat is putting 11 million of us into an early grave each year.
The analysis, in the Lancet, found that our daily diet is a bigger killer than smoking and is now involved in one in five deaths around the world.
According to the researchers, salt shortened the highest number of lives. Researchers say this study is not about obesity, but “poor quality” diets damaging hearts and causing cancer. They ended up breaking it down into 3 different types of diet that are particularly dangerous. They go as follows:
- Too much salt – three million deaths
- Too few whole grains – three million deaths
- Too little fruit – two million deaths
Low levels of nuts, seeds, vegetables, omega-3 from seafood and fibre were the other major killers.
“We find that diet is one of the dominant drivers of health around the world, it’s really quite profound,” said Professor Christopher Murray, who is the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
The BBC cleverly organised all of the data into the picture below.
The UK
The UK is behind countries like France, Denmark and Belgium. “The biggest problems are a lack of whole grains, fruit, vegetables and nuts and seeds”. The study claims 14% of UK deaths are related to diet, with 127 diet related deaths per 100,000 people a year.
Professor Murray said “diet quality matters no matter what weight you are. The really big story for people to act on is increase your whole grains, fruit, nuts, seeds and vegetable intake and reduce salt if you can.”
