An Unhealthy Diet Is The Leading Killer Of Death Around The World. The number is above those that smoke and those that have hypertension as the annual contributors of death.
A recent research made by The Lancet states that approximately 11 million people die because of bad eating choices. The number is above those that smoke and those that have hypertension as the annual contributors of death. The results of the research showed that the reason of deaths is because of the lack of some nutrients in our bodies.
The study found that we don’t take enough milk, whole grains and, nuts and seeds. The gap between what we take of the nutrients and the amount that should be taken on a daily basis is quite low. However, in line with the consumption of the healthy nutrients, the study found that people take more of the unhealthy foods than what than what is required according to dietary guidelines. The unhealthy foods that people take are sugary drinks, processed meats and salt.
The worldwide consumption of red meat was higher than the recommended value by 18%. Out of the 11 million deaths that occurred around the world 10 million deaths were caused by heart disease. Too much salt plays a huge part in the illnesses of the majority of the poor South African population. Too much salt can lead to heart attacks or strokes. Cancer follows after heart disease with over 913 000 deaths and type 2 diabetes with over 338 714 deaths. More than 5 million adults that are under the age of 70 years die due to bad diet choices.
“This study shows that poor diet is the leading risk factor for death in the majority of the countries of the world,” says Ashkan Afshin of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
There are countries that flourish when it comes to eating healthy. Countries such as Israel, France and Spain have had a low diet death rate. The countries follow the Mediterranean dietary plan. However, countries such as China have the highest dietary deaths. Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea were also among the countries that had the highest number of diet deaths.
Evan Fraser, director of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph, says, “We simply cant all adopt a healthy diet under the current global agriculture system. At a global level, we have mismatch between what we should be eating and what we’re producing.”
by Alexandra Ramaite
