Global research aims at poor diet as the cause of one in five deaths
Latest study underlines that poor diet is a factor that contributes to one death of of five worldwide
According to the most comprehensive research ever done on the subject, choosing wrongs foods can severely affect overall health, as eating a diet that lacks proper quantities of whole grains, fruits, nuts, seeds and fish oils can lead to a lower life expectancy.
The study, named Global Burden of Disease, conducted by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, has gathered data from all around the world. The life-expectancy findings have been published in the Lancet medical journal.
Besides global life expectancy registering a significant increase, diet has been found to be the second death factor after smoking. This includes eating-related diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular imbalances and obesity.
Considered to be one of the biggest problems in the world, poor diets are a huge challenge for health systems worldwide, as western diets promote sugary drinks, red meat, lots of salt and an unhealthy combination of ingredients. And these habits are currently spreading around the world at a fast speed, despite people not being aware of the phenomenon.
According to Public Health England, globally tackling obesity should be the main focus of public health authorities. Therefore, improving the dietary habits of their citizens should become the main concern of local health official in modern countries.
When it comes to poor countries, there are a few measures that can be applied in order to improve the overall health of the population: sexual education campaigns, reducing the poverty, vaccinations and improved living conditions, so that people could spend more years in good health levels, away from poor mental and physical conditions.
The study comes as a reminder and reinforces the idea that, despite humanity reaching longer life expectancy, it lives and eats worse, so the only chance to build a better health is to start leading a healthier lifestyle during the early years of life.
