The World's Leading Cause of Death? A Bad Diet (nbc12.com)

An anonymous reader writes: "A bad diet kills more people globally than tobacco," reports Bloomberg, citing a new study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and published Wednesday in Lancet. The study argues that poor diets led to 11 million deaths in 2017 -- and that more than half of them were caused by just three main dietary factors: low consumption of whole grains, low consumption of fruits, and high intake of sodium.

In fact, bad diets are responsible for more deaths worldwide than any other cause, the researchers concluded. "We found that improvement of diet could potentially prevent one in every five deaths globally."

Comments

Wrong. Sugar is bad, mkay?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you eat "whole grains", the body just sees a bunch of sugar.

If you eat "fruits", the body just sees a bunch of sugar—the worst kind, in fact: fructose.

Modern Humans didn't evolve on a diet of whole grains or fruits; they at meat and fat. Fat (oil) is the natural energy source for the body, with sugar being a sometime alternative, or required in only very small amounts in the form of glucose (which can be derived from meat protein via gluconeogenesis).

Meat. Fat. Water. Minerals (including salt).

That's the proper diet. The Powers that Be are trying to kill you, and they're trying to prop up existing government-subsidized industries.

Re:Wrong. Sugar is bad, mkay?

[fahrbot-bot]

If you eat "whole grains", the body just sees a bunch of sugar.
If you eat "fruits", the body just sees a bunch of sugar—the worst kind, in fact: fructose.

Not quite... You might find this interesting: Sugar: The Bitter Truth (90min)

Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin.

The video is a university lecture describing fructose metabolism in great detail and how it's similar to that of alcohol metabolism, without the self-limiting effects of alcohol consumption, and it's affects on blood lipids and fatty liver, etc... Basically, sugar bound up with fiber is (way) less destructive than sugar alone -- i.e., Apple/Orange okay, Apple/Orange Juice not okay.

In addition, fructose can *only* be metabolized by the liver whereas glucose can be metabolized by every cell in the body. Sugar itself isn't necessarily bad and it's more about what how much, what type and how it's processed and how fast it's processed by the body.

Re:Wrong. Sugar is bad, mkay?

[MrL0G1C]

Wrong because the fibre is what makes the difference.

Modern Humans didn't evolve on a diet of whole grains or fruits

Of course they did, what a daft thing to say, you think man passed up the opportunity to eat fruit whenever it presented itself?

What's easier, pluck fruits and eat them or chase some animal around? Do man's teeth look like that of other carnivores?

Re:Wrong. Sugar is bad, mkay?

[rtb61]

Let's cut to the chase, it is not about what they are eating, it is about what they are not eating. The problem is cheap, crappy junk food, of low nutritional value but loaded up with addictive additives, with total disinterest in health outcomes, profits first. Remember kiddies according to US corporations and the US government, ketchup is a vegetable.

The worlds leading cause of early death, not food, Junk Food Corporations are the world leading cause of early death, through greed driven indifference.

Timing matters, too.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll add that you should be eating fewer meals a day, too.

Digestion is a dirty, industrial process. You want there to be ample time for your body build up and then tear down that process, and clear away the inflammatory byproducts; at night, when you're sleeping, you want your body putting energy into rebuilding, not digesting.

So, eat at most 2 meals a day, mostly in the middle of the day (e.g., a late lunch and/or and early dinner), and then fast until meal-time the next day; if you're powering yourself by fat rather than by sugar (and thereby keeping your insulin levels relatively low), you'll find that you're never really hungry, anyway.

That's what makes sense for a human: Eating basic food that is readily available in animals, and not being hungry the rest of the time.

Re:correlation

[Tranzistors]

On one hand we have study in the Lancet, on the other we have:

I really doubt that high sodium is the biggest killer, for example.

I mean, both sides are equally valuable.

I don't think so...

[qzzpjs]

The correct answer is time. Doesn't matter what you eat, you're not going to escape it...

Re:I don't think so...

[qzzpjs]

I'm saying that everyone is going to die some day. It doesn't matter what you eat, how you exercise, etc. You could be the healthiest eater in the world and you're still going to die at some point. You might last a few more years than others but you're not going to stop it by changing your diet.

Articles like this try and give you the idea that if you do this or that, you're going to prevent your death. This one actually says a better diet will prevent 1 in 5 deaths globally. I'm pretty sure all 5 out of 5 are going to die at some point. It's just a matter of time.

Maybe if the article gave a chart of life expectencies of people based on diets or lifestyles it might be more accurate. But claiming that your death will be prevented is just wrong.

Re:correlation

[Aighearach]

The longest lifespans are in Japan.

The highest sodium consumption is in Japan.

In many other countries, the source of high consumption of sodium is processed foods.

Consumption of large percentages of diet from processed foods is understood to reduce lifespan.

I don't know why it isn't more obvious to people that sodium is a confounding variable, not a causal one.

Eating healthy and exercise are TOO HARD

[Rick Schumann]

Most people would rather have a limb amputated rather than exercise regularly, just like most people won't keep track of what they eat or how many calories it is because if they knew how bad they were screwiing up they'd feel guilty for eating all that shitty food -- and they'd rather stay in denial so they can keep eating things they like, and screw what happens to them later. Broken cookies have no calories, LOL! Then add food companies and fast food into the mix and you get people addicted to cheap shitty unhealthy food that is designed to be addictive so you buy more and more of it, and healthy food in comparison tastes like shit to them because it's not full of sugar and fat.

Um, lots of folks enjoy excersise

[rsilvergun]

when they're not working 50+ hours a week and taking care of kids the remaining hours.

As a people we're massively overworked. We use soda & junk food for the quick bursts of energy needed to get through the day. This has been and is getting worse because while food is widely available good paying jobs are not.

Once you put on weight it is permanatly harder

[rsilvergun]

to lose it. That's because your body creates fat cells when you gain weight but does not destroy them when you lose it, they just shrink.

So a few high stress years (say when your kids are born and both you and the wife work full time because one income hasn't been enough to afford a family since before Reagan was president) and you've just permanently made it harder to stay fit.

Add in the health problems that come with getting older (worse sleep being the big one) and you just can't burn as many calories as you used to, making it harder to keep the weight off.

Re: correlation

[quantaman]

Agreed.

Also this doesnt prevent death, the cause just moves to another category when a person dies. Everyone dies after all.

And in my view the people that live longer don't necessarily live happier lives overall. I'd rather eat what works for me and live however long I live.

You're focusing on the wrong thing.

It's not about the choice between a long life and a short life.

It's about the choice between a healthy life and a sickly life.

It's not hard to tell which life will be happier.