By Sarah Boseley
Poor diet is a factor in one in five deaths around the world, according to the most comprehensive study ever carried out on the subject.
Millions of people are eating the wrong sorts of food for good health. Eating a diet that is low in whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds and fish oils and high in salt raises the risk of an early death, according to the huge and ongoing study Global Burden of Disease.
The study, based at the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, compiles data from every country in the world and makes informed estimates where there are gaps. Five papers on life expectancy and the causes and risk factors of death and ill health have been published by the Lancet medical journal.
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Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington and a Professor of Global Health, is quoted in this story.