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One in five people are eating themselves to an early death: Global study

zeejane03
zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
edited December 20 in Debate Club
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/04/03/unhealthy-diet-killing-millions-around-world-lancet-study/3339934002/

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)30041-8/fulltext

The thing that stood out to me was the part about whole grains. I've been working on this myself this year as I've started following a more DASH style way of eating, but I still have room for improvement, (ate white rice for lunch today instead of a brown/wild rice, even though I have them both in my house).

Replies

  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    edited April 2019
    Different article on the same study here:
    https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/04/03/709507504/bad-diets-are-responsible-for-more-deaths-than-smoking-global-study-finds

    I find it interesting that the USA Today article lists milk as one of the foods people aren't getting enough of but not fruits and veggies. Milk as a drink is a rarity for me, usually accompanied by a cookie or brownie :tongue:
  • roy206
    roy206 Posts: 1 Member
    ^ Clickbait.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    edited April 2019
    roy206 wrote: »
    ^ Clickbait.

    Of course it is. What isn't these days? Still an interesting read.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    tmpecus78 wrote: »
    "Researchers say the leading dietary risk factor for death and disease in American is a low intake of whole grains, below 125 grams a day."

    I have a hard time believing that sentence.

    I do too, or at least I suspect it's more a lack of something that can be supplied by other foods or the particular foods that get substituted for the whole grains (or which people who tend to eat whole grains eat less of).

    I am going to look more at their methodology.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    tmpecus78 wrote: »
    "Researchers say the leading dietary risk factor for death and disease in American is a low intake of whole grains, below 125 grams a day."

    I have a hard time believing that sentence.

    I do too, or at least I suspect it's more a lack of something that can be supplied by other foods or the particular foods that get substituted for the whole grains (or which people who tend to eat whole grains eat less of).

    I am going to look more at their methodology.

    Please report back! I was trying to read through the Lancet report but I was confusing myself, numbers and maths are not my strong point :p
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    The findings summary in the Lancet study: Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

    "In 2017, 11 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 10–12) deaths and 255 million (234–274) DALYs were attributable to dietary risk factors. High intake of sodium (3 million [1–5] deaths and 70 million [34–118] DALYs), low intake of whole grains (3 million [2–4] deaths and 82 million [59–109] DALYs), and low intake of fruits (2 million [1–4] deaths and 65 million [41–92] DALYs) were the leading dietary risk factors for deaths and DALYs globally and in many countries. Dietary data were from mixed sources and were not available for all countries, increasing the statistical uncertainty of our estimates."
  • WakkoW
    WakkoW Posts: 567 Member
    edited April 2019
    lokihen wrote: »
    I thought the latest findings were that salt is only a problem for those who are hypertensive.

    This is my experience and understanding. I know that I'm an n-1, but I liberally salt everything and have low blood pressure. Not a problem unless I stand up to quickly from a resting position. My dr usually checks it twice during my visit, but isn't overly concerned because it is always low.

    Edit: I saw this in the news and immediately came over here to watch it get dissected.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,497 Member
    lokihen wrote: »
    I thought the latest findings were that salt is only a problem for those who are hypertensive.

    I'm guessing it's not so much the sodium as the stuff it's attached to like lots and lots of chips, french fries, etc.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    Different article on the same study here:
    https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/04/03/709507504/bad-diets-are-responsible-for-more-deaths-than-smoking-global-study-finds

    I find it interesting that the USA Today article lists milk as one of the foods people aren't getting enough of but not fruits and veggies. Milk as a drink is a rarity for me, usually accompanied by a cookie or brownie :tongue:

    I saw the NPR article in my Apple News today and was thinking about starting a thread. Yes, it's a click baity title. Got me to click ;)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    WakkoW wrote: »
    lokihen wrote: »
    I thought the latest findings were that salt is only a problem for those who are hypertensive.

    This is my experience and understanding. I know that I'm an n-1, but I liberally salt everything and have low blood pressure. Not a problem unless I stand up to quickly from a resting position. My dr usually checks it twice during my visit, but isn't overly concerned because it is always low.

    Edit: I saw this in the news and immediately came over here to watch it get dissected.

    Yep, I had too low blood pressure until I started salting liberally. Bring on the salt!
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    WakkoW wrote: »
    lokihen wrote: »
    I thought the latest findings were that salt is only a problem for those who are hypertensive.

    This is my experience and understanding. I know that I'm an n-1, but I liberally salt everything and have low blood pressure. Not a problem unless I stand up to quickly from a resting position. My dr usually checks it twice during my visit, but isn't overly concerned because it is always low.

    Edit: I saw this in the news and immediately came over here to watch it get dissected.

    I guess the question needs to be asked as to whether sodium can be doing damage to your organs without actually raising blood pressure.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    puffbrat wrote: »
    The findings summary in the Lancet study: Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

    "In 2017, 11 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 10–12) deaths and 255 million (234–274) DALYs were attributable to dietary risk factors. High intake of sodium (3 million [1–5] deaths and 70 million [34–118] DALYs), low intake of whole grains (3 million [2–4] deaths and 82 million [59–109] DALYs), and low intake of fruits (2 million [1–4] deaths and 65 million [41–92] DALYs) were the leading dietary risk factors for deaths and DALYs globally and in many countries. Dietary data were from mixed sources and were not available for all countries, increasing the statistical uncertainty of our estimates."

    Low intake of fruits? I mean, I'm a big proponent of fruits and vegetables . . . but my impression was always that fruit is completely optional for humans. If we enjoy it, we can eat it. But if you don't enjoy it, there's no real reason to have it instead of vegetables that you prefer. I will go through periods where I eat fruit daily and then maybe not eat it for several weeks.

    There's really nothing in fruit that can't be found in other sources (unless I'm failing to think of something).
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
    puffbrat wrote: »
    The findings summary in the Lancet study: Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

    "In 2017, 11 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 10–12) deaths and 255 million (234–274) DALYs were attributable to dietary risk factors. High intake of sodium (3 million [1–5] deaths and 70 million [34–118] DALYs), low intake of whole grains (3 million [2–4] deaths and 82 million [59–109] DALYs), and low intake of fruits (2 million [1–4] deaths and 65 million [41–92] DALYs) were the leading dietary risk factors for deaths and DALYs globally and in many countries. Dietary data were from mixed sources and were not available for all countries, increasing the statistical uncertainty of our estimates."

    Low intake of fruits? I mean, I'm a big proponent of fruits and vegetables . . . but my impression was always that fruit is completely optional for humans. If we enjoy it, we can eat it. But if you don't enjoy it, there's no real reason to have it instead of vegetables that you prefer. I will go through periods where I eat fruit daily and then maybe not eat it for several weeks.

    There's really nothing in fruit that can't be found in other sources (unless I'm failing to think of something).

    It has been a long time since I was really proficient at reading these kinds of epidemiological studies, but I think they had a lot of problems with obtaining solid data and then it was very generally applied since this study looks at the entire globe. I feel like you would really have to drill down through their data and results to see where the possible causations are and what the typical diet looks like in those regions. Like you, my understanding is that fruit can provide valuable nutrients but isn't actually a necessary component of a human diet for survival. I'm not an expert in this field and can't make any judgement about the methods or validity of the study, but it just seems overly broad with too many uncertainties for any of us to really draw conclusions from. It does seem to me though that the study should really be inferring correlation even though the conclusions in the journal article are written as causation.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    puffbrat wrote: »
    The findings summary in the Lancet study: Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

    "In 2017, 11 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 10–12) deaths and 255 million (234–274) DALYs were attributable to dietary risk factors. High intake of sodium (3 million [1–5] deaths and 70 million [34–118] DALYs), low intake of whole grains (3 million [2–4] deaths and 82 million [59–109] DALYs), and low intake of fruits (2 million [1–4] deaths and 65 million [41–92] DALYs) were the leading dietary risk factors for deaths and DALYs globally and in many countries. Dietary data were from mixed sources and were not available for all countries, increasing the statistical uncertainty of our estimates."

    Low intake of fruits? I mean, I'm a big proponent of fruits and vegetables . . . but my impression was always that fruit is completely optional for humans. If we enjoy it, we can eat it. But if you don't enjoy it, there's no real reason to have it instead of vegetables that you prefer. I will go through periods where I eat fruit daily and then maybe not eat it for several weeks.

    There's really nothing in fruit that can't be found in other sources (unless I'm failing to think of something).

    I suspect not eating much fruit correlates on average with not eating many of the veg that supply the same nutrients or with getting higher amounts of other less nutritious foods in the diet, especially in areas where fruit is traditionally a larger part of the diet.

    I think these studies are really hard to draw conclusions from, which was my issue with the whole grains bit too.
  • newmeadow
    newmeadow Posts: 1,295 Member
    Meh. There's worse ways to die.
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  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,497 Member
    newmeadow wrote: »
    Meh. There's worse ways to die.

    Type 2 diabetes is associated with eating in excess of ones caloric need.

    Don't think that is a real pleasant way to go.
  • fishgutzy
    fishgutzy Posts: 2,807 Member
    Published next to an article about how over populated the planet is. :D

    Anything in excess can cross the line to being bad for you.
    Drink more water than your body can process and you drown.
This discussion has been closed.