Poor Diet Causes More Deaths Than Smoking, Study Reveals

Poor diet is one of the leading causes of deaths around the world. A staggering 11 million deaths, or one in five deaths, is linked to poor nutrition.

According to experts, eating poorly is more dangerous than smoking. "Unhealthy nutrition such as sugar-sweetened beverages, soda, red meat, and process meat along with low admission of fresh vegetables, seeds, whole grains, nuts, fruits is the lead cause of deaths around the world," Dr. Ashkan Afshin, associate professor at the University of Washington, explained. "Death from a poor diet is more than it is from blood pressure and tobacco usage."

The study published in the journal The Lancet followed trends in the utilization of 15 dietary foods from 1990 to 2017 of 195 nations. These included diets low in foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, fatty acid, milk, and seeds, fiber, calcium, fish omega-3 fats, polyunsaturated fats. Diets high in sugar-sweetened sodas, red meat, proceed meat and sodium were also included in the study.

The research found that as much as 11 million deaths in 2017 could be attributed to poor diet. Israel, France, Spain and Japan were some of the top countries which had the least poor diet-related deaths. On the other hand, Uzbekistan was one of the worst, while the U.S. ranked 43rd on the list.

It is important to note that both obesity and hunger are forms of malnutrition. More than 1.9 billion people are overweight, while 800 million people are hungry around the world.

Based on the study, the world needs more nourishment instead of just any food on the table. The question now is: do we have that much healthy foods to feed the globe? The answer is apparently no as there is insufficient organic food to go around, a report in PLOS journal indicated.

A globally coordinated attempt is required to reconsider the agricultural syste. Access to nutrition knowledge and healthy diet are the most important needs at the moment, according to the report.