Bad Food Is the Leading Cause of Early Death Worldwide

An analysis by leading authorities on disease reveals that poor diet is the biggest contributor to early death around the world, with red meat and sugar-sweetened drinks among the foods implicated in 21 percent of deaths.

The Guardian reports:

Smoking cigarettes still carries the highest risk factor of premature death in the UK, followed by high blood pressure and obesity. But the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE) in the US says that a combination of dietary factors, from eating too few fruit and vegetables, nuts and whole grains to too much sodium and cholesterol, is taking a toll on health in the UK and across the globe.

The IMHE’s study found that the biggest contributor to early death globally is high blood pressure, in which age and family history play a part, but so do obesity, smoking, excessive salt consumption, lack of exercise and drinking large amounts of alcohol. In the UK, alcohol is also one of the top ten risk factors associated with the highest number of deaths for both men and women.

The study looked at 14 dietary risk factors. Cumulatively, unhealthy eating, including diets low in fruit, whole grains, and vegetables, and diets high in red meat and sugar-sweetened beverages contributed to more deaths than any other factor, causing ischemic heart disease, stroke and diabetes. …

Environmental pollutants are also a major risk. Air pollution is linked to the seventh highest number of deaths around the world and indoor fumes from cooking is in eighth place, although neither make the top ten in the UK.

Read more here.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.