A study published in The Lancet yesterday by the Global Burden of Disease estimates that one in five deaths globally – equivalent to 11 million deaths – are associated with poor diet, and that diet contributes to a range of chronic diseases in people around the world.
The authors said the causes of these deaths included 10 million deaths from cardiovascular disease; 913,000 cancer deaths; and almost 339,000 deaths from Type 2 diabetes. They disclosed that deaths related to diet swelled from eight million in 1990, largely due to increase in population and population ageing.
The countries with the lowest rates of diet-related deaths were Israel , France, Spain, Japan, and Andorra. In Bangladesh, low intake of fruits was the leading dietary risk. And in Mexico, low intake of nuts and seeds ranked first.