Unhealthy diets dominated by sugar, salt and trans fats were associated with one in five deaths and were more deadly than tobacco and high blood pressure, a new study says.
Results of the study, published Wednesday in the British journal The Lancet, were reported in The New York Times and other media outlets.
Bad diets now kill more people than cigarettes: study https://t.co/XRAosqyy4K pic.twitter.com/Eg4HXDHasi
— New York Post (@nypost) April 4, 2019
The globally focused study is considered one of the largest of its kind.
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the study covered eating habits in 15 categories including fiber, processed meat, milk, seafood and sodium from 1990 to 2017.
Researchers “found that consuming vegetables, fruit, fish and whole grains was strongly associated with a longer life — and that people who skimped on such healthy foods were more likely to die before their time,” according to the analysis of the study by the Times.
CBS reported: “Poor dietary habits, which is a combination of high intake of unhealthy foods, such as red meat, processed meat and sugar-sweetened beverages, and a low intake of healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and seeds, overall causes more deaths than any other risk factors globally,” study author Dr. Ashkan Afshin, an assistant professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington, told CBS News.
In 2017, of about 11 million deaths that could have been avoided, around 10 million were caused by cardiovascular disease, according to the study. Cancer came in as the second largest diet-related killer with 913,000 deaths, followed by Type 2 diabetes.
“These numbers are really striking,” Dr. Francesco Branca said in the Times article.
Branca, a top nutritionist at the World Health Organization who was not involved in the study, said, “This should be a wake-up call for the world.”
HEALTH: What kills more people in the world than any other risk factor? It's not smoking. Or high blood pressure. It's a poor diet. Although, exactly what constitutes a bad diet might surprise you.
HE-150WE pic.twitter.com/bZHVZcqUR9— CNN Newsource (@CNNNewsource) April 4, 2019
