Stereotypical western diets high in salt, fat, and lacking fruit or fiber are responsible for more deaths around the world than smoking and high blood pressure, a study has shown.
Around a fifth of all the deaths in the world can be attributed to unhealthy eating, which is a major driver of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
The analysis comparing diet, deaths, and disease rates across 195 countries found that bad dietary habits are increasingly present because of changing habits leading to more meat-eating and fewer vegetable staples, along with proliferating fast food.
In 2017, poor diet was responsible for 11 million deaths, or 22% of the total recorded deaths worldwide. In comparison, smoking tobacco was associated with eight million deaths, and high blood pressure was responsible for just over 10 million.
A breakdown of the analysis showed that low intake of whole grains and fruits and high consumption of sodium – found in salt – accounted for more than half of diet-related deaths.
The rest were attributed to high consumption of red and processed meat, sugar-sweetened drinks, and other unhealthy foods including those containing trans-fatty acids.
The vast majority of diet-related deaths were due to heart disease, followed by cancers and Type 2 diabetes. Poor diet also caused a huge burden of disability, the researchers reported in The Lancet journal.
Physician’s Weight Control Center has never approached its clients with a one-size-fits-all strategy. Instead, it works to approach each person with a supervised individualized plan to promote a sustained change in behavior in his or her lifestyle. Each patient PWCC works with is unique and therefore deserves a tailored plan that will have the best results for his or her particular lifestyle and health needs.
Our goal is to guide you back to self-efficacy—to believe that you can be successful in making positive changes and sustaining those changes over time—and show you just how successful you can be with reaching your wellness ambitions.
The process of behavioral change is both enlightening and empowering and it is that experience of empowerment and enlightenment that makes the changes you make sustainable.
Contact us today for more information on how Physician’s Weight Control Center and our wellness coaches can help you.
