Unhealthy eating habits can be blamed for more than 400,000 US deaths a year due to heart disease and related illnesses!
So one in four of all US deaths!
Smoking, obesity, diet, exercise and hereditary factors can all contribute to person’s likelihood of developing heart disease.
However, a recent study has shown that the low intake of healthy foods such as nuts, vegetables, whole grains and fruits combined with higher intake of unhealthy dietary components, such as salt and trans fat, is a major contributor to deaths from cardiovascular disease in the US.
“Our results show that nearly half of cardiovascular disease deaths in the US can be prevented by improving diet,” says lead study author and assistant professor of global health at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Ashkan Afshin.
Trans fat has been largely phased out of the food supply, but can still be found in some margarines, biscuits, cookies, frosting and other processed foods.
The study was based on data from a variety of sources going back to the 1990s, including the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
By examining data on US cardiovascular deaths in 2015, researchers found that dietary choices played a role in the deaths of an estimated 222,100 men and 193,400 women.
Experts at the American Heart Association encourage people to eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, fish and poultry.
People should avoid or limit their intake of fatty or processed red meat, sugary soft drinks, salt, saturated and trans fats.
Recently, renowned chef Jamie Oliver, won a lawsuit against one of the world’s largest fast-food networks.
According to him some of the products prepared at some fast foods, in fact, cannot be called food.
The meat for burgers and other goods is prepared from beef fat and is washed in ammonium hydroxide; a procedure that severely harms human health.
In England and Ireland ammonium hydroxide was not used to beef mixture, these countries opting for fresh meat from farmers. After his campaign, Jamie Oliver has managed to win the trial and restaurants have acknowledged “guilt” and removed ammonium hydroxide from the production of beef mixture.
In America the use of ammonium hydroxide is approved by the US Ministry of Agriculture and consumers are not informed of the use of this procedure.
In the meantime, W.R Kenan Jr. Professor of Nutrition at UNC’s Gillings School of Public Health says some fast food is not to blame for childhood obesity, but poor eating habits learned in children’s home are.
A study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that while fast food does contribute to unhealthy children, the main culprit for childhood obesity is learned dietary habits children observe at home.
Ok I do think that many children who rely on fast foods may tend to have parents who do not have the means, desire or the time to purchase or prepare healthy foods at home.
But not only are these bad habits observed at home, you can see them enforced in schools that lack healthy food options.
Poor eating patterns, says the study, consist of drinking sugary drinks and eating processed foods as oppose to eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
“This is really what is driving children’s obesity,” says lead research Barry Popkin.
“Just because children who eat more fast food are the most likely to become obese does not prove that calories from fast foods bear the brunt of the blame.”
The study presented strong evidence that the children’s diet beyond fast food consumption is more strongly linked to poor nutrition and obesity.
“This is really what is driving children’s obesity and what needs to be addressed in any solution,” says Popkin.