Eleven million deaths a year from unhealthy diets

05-Apr-2019 - United Kingdom

An estimated eleven million deaths a year worldwide are due to unhealthy diets such as too much sugary drinks or too little vegetables. That is every fifth death, international researchers write in the journal "The Lancet". In Germany, there were 162 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017 that can be attributed to unhealthy diets. The main problem is that the consumption of whole grain products is too low (less than 125 grams per day), the researchers write.

Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash

Overall, Germany ranks 38th out of 195 countries considered. The fewest such deaths per 100,000 inhabitants are found in Israel, France and Spain (places one to three), most on the Marshall Islands, in Afghanistan and in Uzbekistan (places 193 to 195).

In the extensive study, the researchers have examined nutritional styles that can lead to non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer or type 2 diabetes.

The 15 factors examined included too little fruit, too few wholemeal products or too much red meat. Deaths due to malnutrition, hunger or alcohol abuse were not included, as explained by Toni Meier of the University of Halle-Wittenberg, who was involved in the study. (dpa)

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

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