New study: Bad food choices killing more people than tobacco

New study: Bad food choices killing more people than tobacco

Salt is a trigger in our diet. We like sweet and salty food and our major issue is that we become used to the taste. Next, as we increase in age, we likely need more salt and more sugar to find something tasty. This may lead to an increased intake as we age. As it is mentioned in our study, more than 50 per cent of all the deaths are a result of not eating enough whole grains and fruits, and a too high intake of sodium.

In your research, you say that Uzbekistan tops the list of countries with the highest risk of diet-related deaths. Israel the smallest, Germany rates somewhere in the middle. What did you find out about Germany?

One issue, and this is not considered in our study, is the calorie intake. More than 50 per cent of Germans are obese. This is a recent figure from [Germany's] federal statistics office. So, we definitely have a problem with obesity and its consequences such as diabetes mellitus.

Beside calorie intake, in Germany, we don't eat enough foods of plant origin, such as fruits and vegetables, but consumption of meat and meat products is too high. This means that we don't eat enough whole grain and other fibre-rich foods.

We've known this for many years. Some years ago, we had a country-wide representative survey, the German National Nutrition Survey II, which revealed that we eat less than 20 grams of fibre per day, although it's recommended to eat more than 30 grams. And we know from a recent study published in The Lancet that whole grain and fibre intake is a major driver in preventing total mortality, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus type 2 and colorectal cancer.

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