11 million people died and 255 million people have seen their quality of life impacted, due to poor diet, according to the new report of the Global Burden of Disease.
Almost one in five deaths in the world would be linked to an unbalanced diet, according to the study Global Burden of Disease prestigious Lancet. A new inventory for the year 2017 specially dedicated to food risk factors has just been released.
The study
THE Global Burden of Disease is an epidemiological study worldwide funded by the Foundation Bill & Melinda Gates. Based at the University of Washington’s University (IHME) data from each country in the world on mortality, the main diseases, risk factors. It has examined trends from 1990 to the present day.
The results show that life expectancy has lengthened: in almost half a century, it increased from 14 years, from 58.4 in 1970 to 72.5 years in 2016 (75.3 years for women and 69.8 years for men). Japan records the highest life expectancy with 84 years old And the lowest Central African Republic with 50.2 years. In France, life expectancy is 81.8 years: 78.4 years for men and 85.2 years for women.
In addition, mortality decreases in young children. In 2016, less than five million children under the age of five died. This drop is significant compared to 1990, the year in which 11 million children died and 1970 (16.4 million dead). On the other hand, 72 % of deaths in the world were caused by non-transferable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes, often linked to lifestyle (food, physical activity, tobacco, alcohol, etc.). Tobacco would be responsible for around 7 million deaths worldwide.
People live longer, but paradoxically they also spend more sick years. Obesity is one of the main reasons even if high blood sugar can also lead to a risk of diabetes, hypertension, a high BMI. A poor diet, especially if it is low in fibers, legumes, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts, omega-3 sailors and polyunsaturated fatty acids, but also too salty and rich in sugary drinks is associated with 11 million deaths (18.8 % of deaths) in the world. If this figure already seems colossal, it is not much next to the 255 million people who saw their quality of life altered by poor food in 2017.
In practice
The main food changes in the world are linked to increasing urbanization, technology, and resources allocated to food. With urbanization, there are fewer foods produced locally and more and more foods produced by others. The markets are replaced by supermarkets that offer industrial, ultra-transformed, energy-rich foods. As explained by French researcher Anthony Fardet in “Stop to ultra-transformed food! Let’s eat true“, these often inexpensive foods replace traditional foods in both developed and developing countries. Indeed, we note, in the new report, that food factors are substantially the same, regardless of the socio-demographic level of the countries concerned.
The countries where we consume the most ultra-transformed foods are also those which are most affected by obesity as shown in a recent study in Europe. The solution consists in returning to a little transformed diet; Anthony Fardet advises that ultra-transformed foods represent “less than 15 % of daily calories“.
Books against junk food: Stop to ultra-transformed foods by Anthony Fardet, the right choice for your children, by lanutrition.fr, the best way to eat, by lanutrition.fr, the new additive guide, by lanutrition.fr.
