Deadly diets

Nearly half of all deaths due to heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes in the US in 2012 were linked to a poor diet, according to a study published in JAMA.

Researchers from the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston developed a model using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, estimated associations of diet and disease from studies and clinical trials, and estimated disease-specific national mortality from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Focusing on deaths in the year 2012, the researchers examined mortality due to heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes and the consumption of 10 foods/nutrients associated with cardiometabolic diseases: fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, wholegrains, unprocessed red meats, processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), polyunsaturated fats, seafood omega-3 fats and sodium.

702,308 cardiometabolic deaths occurred in US adults in 2012. Of these, an estimated 45% were associated with suboptimal intakes of the 10 dietary factors. By sex, larger diet-related proportional mortality was estimated in men than in women, consistent with generally unhealthier dietary habits in men. Suboptimal diet was also associated with larger proportional mortality at younger vs older ages, among blacks and Hispanics vs whites, and among individuals with low and medium education vs high education.

The largest numbers of estimated diet-related cardiometabolic deaths were related to high sodium, low nuts/seeds, high processed meats, low seafood omega-3 fats, low vegetables, low fruits and high SSBs. Between 2002 and 2012, as a percentage of annual cardiometabolic deaths, diet-associated mortality declined for polyunsaturated fats (-21%), nuts (-18%) and SSBs (-14.5%), remained relatively stable for wholegrains, fruits, vegetables, seafood omega-3 fats and processed meats, and increased for sodium (+5.8%) and unprocessed red meats (+14%).