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The strongest diet killer is not oil and sugar! The latest research by Lancet shows that these are t

DailyBird Healthy 2021-09-29 8 0

Source: China News Weekly

Author: Shi Hanxu

How much impact does poor food have on human health? The conclusion of a study recently published in The Lancet is: You can die.

After tracking the dietary patterns and habits of adults aged 25 and over from 1990 to 2017 in 195 countries around the world, the researchers concluded that in 2017, 11 million people died of unhealthy eating, accounting for 22% of total adult deaths.

It is estimated that the number of deaths caused by tobacco-related diseases in the same year was 7 million.

Surprisingly, the death rate attributable to diet in China is higher than that in the United States. At the same time, China's cardiovascular disease mortality rate and cancer mortality rate due to dietary problems are ranked first among the world's top 20 most populous countries.

You should know that the most unhealthy high-sugar and high-oil diet in the public's past has a fatality rate that only ranks last among the 15 dietary factors listed by the researchers; the top three are more salt and less coarse grains. The eating habit of low fruit intake resulted in 3 million, 3 million, and 2 million deaths.

Judging from these three bad eating habits, they indeed correspond to the average level of the Chinese.

"The Chinese Dietary Guidelines for Residents (2016) recommends that the daily salt intake should be less than 6g, but in recent years our average daily intake has been around 10g; compared to coarse grains, Chinese food is more accustomed to eating white rice and white noodles. ; Our daily average intake of fruits is only 50g, which is far below the recommended intake of 200-350g," Ruan Guangfeng, director of the Science and Technology Communication Department of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center, told China News Weekly.

"You are what you eat", the connotation of the Western proverb has expanded again. It seems that what is meant by eating well is really worthy of careful study.

These eating habits are killers

Illness comes from the mouth, and it’s not surprising that scientists see the health, disease, and death of humans around the world from the dining table.

In fact, scientists have successively verified the correlation between eating habits and the onset of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

After analyzing 27 years of data from 195 countries, a group of researchers from many institutions at home and abroad have made a more comprehensive and intuitive data presentation of the widespread nature of this hazard. They found that in 2017, more than 20% of deaths worldwide were attributable to dietary risk factors, involving 11 million deaths, and more than 5 million of them occurred in adults under 70.

You know, tobacco, which has always been regarded as a high risk factor for disease, caused only 7 million deaths in the same year.

In addition to the number of fatal cases, the researchers also used another indicator to measure the burden of disease caused by dietary risk factors, namely disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Simply put, the harm caused by diseases to humans is divided into two categories, namely death and disability, which will cause the reduction of individual healthy life years. DALYs are data that objectively reflect the loss of health years after comprehensive consideration of various factors.

The study concluded that in 2017, a total of 255 million DALYs can be attributed to dietary risks. This means that the poor dietary structure shortened the average healthy life span of each person by 12 days that year.

At the same time, the researchers restored the daily dining tables in various regions in a more microscopic way, and found 15 unhealthy dietary factors related to fatal diseases.

On the whole, these factors are divided into two categories: one is the intake of healthy foods and nutrients, such as whole grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables, fiber, etc.; the other is eating too much unhealthy things. For example, salt, trans fatty acids, red meat, sugary drinks.

In 2017, the consumption of almost all healthy foods and nutrients was unsatisfactory. The average intake of nuts and seeds, milk and whole grains (accounting for 12% of the daily dietary nutrients) was compared with the optimal intake (16 % And 23%). At the same time, the daily intake of all unhealthy foods and nutrients exceeds the optimal level. For example, the average intake of processed meats is 90% higher, and the intake of sodium is 86% higher.

Unexpectedly, excessive intake of sodium and low intake of whole grains and fruits are actually the three most ferocious killers of bad eating habits, causing 3 million, 3 million, and 2 million deaths respectively, and 70 million, 82 million, 65 million DALYs.

As for how bad eating habits lead to death, researchers have also made an analysis. First, cardiovascular disease is the absolute leading cause of diet-related deaths, involving 10 million deaths and 207 million DALYs; followed by cancer (913,000 deaths, 20 million DALYs) and type 2 diabetes (339,000 deaths, 24 million DALYs) ).

Chinese food has a high fatality rate?

Even more unexpectedly, the seemingly healthier Chinese food is actually more dangerous than the American high-oil, high-sugar and high-calorie diet.

Studies have shown that among the world’s top 20 most populous countries, China has the highest mortality rate from diet-related cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and the former has a fatality rate of 299 per 100,000. You know, the figure for neighboring Japan is only 69/100,000, which is less than a quarter of China.

So, where exactly is Chinese food unhealthy? The first to bear the brunt is a diet with high salt and high refined carbon water intake.

"The "Chinese Residents Dietary Guidelines (2016)" recommends a daily salt intake of less than 6 grams, but according to surveys in recent years, our average daily salt intake is around 10 grams, far exceeding the recommended amount ", Ruan Guangfeng told China News Weekly.

He also reminded that in addition to salt, condiments such as monosodium glutamate, chicken essence, soy sauce, fermented bean curd, and the "hidden sodium" in processed foods such as plum and potato chips are important sources of sodium intake.

High salt has been confirmed by a large number of studies to increase the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as high blood pressure, stroke, and gastric cancer.

Another hidden danger of Chinese food is that the staple food mostly relies on refined carbon water, that is, white rice and white noodles after removing the husk and husk of rice and wheat.

"The refined and processed grains have almost only starch, no dietary fiber, and have a fast digestion rate, which is very unfavorable for the control of blood sugar and weight. Whole grains contain more dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, etc., and more intake can reduce the results. The risk of chronic diseases such as rectal cancer and type 2 diabetes," said Ruan Guangfeng.

In addition, too much red meat (pig, beef, lamb) and too little intake of unsaturated fatty acids are also important factors that cause cardiovascular disease in Chinese meals.

Of course, considering that China's obesity rate is far lower than that of the United States, it is not difficult to see that Chinese food is not without its merits. For example, Chinese food emphasizes the combination of meat and vegetables, which will ensure our vegetable intake and control blood sugar. The habit of eating less raw food will also reduce the burden on the stomach.

Moreover, according to the documentary "The World's Best Diet" filmed by the BBC, moderate spicy food is also a very healthy eating habit, which makes us think of Sichuan and Hunan cuisine that is popular throughout the country. The salt and oil are still too heavy.

It’s time to learn how to eat

But obviously, on top of the art of eating that satisfies the basic survival needs and taste buds, in order to live healthier, it is time to pay attention to the technology of eating.

Regarding the research published by The Lancet, the most basic thing is to pay attention to controlling salt intake. Ruan Guangfeng suggested that when cooking, we should deliberately measure salt, use vinegar, spices and other condiments to replace part of the salt, and consciously avoid salty foods such as pickles and ham.

At the same time, the intake of whole grains (that is, whole grains) and fruits should also be increased. "Eat fruits every day. According to the dietary guidelines, you should eat about half a catty every day," Ruan Guangfeng told China News Weekly. "If you are afraid of getting fat, you can eat fruits before meals to help control the total amount of meals."

"But fruit juice cannot replace fruit. Even pure fruit juice should be consumed less. On the one hand, the juice production process will cause the loss of nutrients such as vitamin C and dietary fiber. On the other hand, the content of free sugar (equivalent to added sugar) in the juice If it is too high, it will also affect blood sugar and blood lipids," Ruan Guangfeng emphasized.

According to the scientific research report released by the Chinese Nutrition Society earlier this year, in addition to the above problems, the consumption of sugary drinks by teenagers is increasing year by year, and the intake of dark vegetables, milk, fish, shrimps and soybeans is generally insufficient, which is also the need for Chinese meals. Improvements.

Nearby, the Jiangnan region's diet can be said to be a model of a healthy diet. The habits of more vegetables and fruits, more fish and shrimps, appropriate amounts of cereals, meat and poultry, and light cooking with less salt are worth learning. The aforementioned report mentioned that people with the characteristics of this dietary pattern not only have a higher life expectancy, but also have a lower risk of developing diseases such as overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and stroke.

If you want to go further, the findings of the aforementioned BBC documentary can also be used as a reference for improving eating habits.

After visiting and digging out the eating styles of 50 countries, combined with the professional advice of nutritionists and doctors, "The World's Healthiest Eating Styles" identified Iceland's eating styles as the best. Judging from the results of the health situation, this seems to be confirmed. After all, many of the global high-incidence diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, and diabetes, have a low incidence in Iceland.

Specifically, first of all, Iceland is a big fish-consuming country. According to a local resident, Icelanders eat fish four or five times a week, and there are many kinds of fish. Among them, the rich omega 3 fatty acids cannot be synthesized by the human body, and have a good effect on lowering blood lipids, lowering blood sugar, and relieving many diseases and pains.

In addition to eating fish, common foods on the Icelandic table include high-fiber rye bread, whole-grain pasta, meat, eggs and dairy products from family farms, as well as various fruits and vegetables.

More important than balanced ingredients, Icelanders believe that the more food is processed, the less healthy it is. Less processing means more restraint in the use of salt, sugar, oil, etc.

From this point of view, it does not seem to be a difficult task for us to eat healthier.


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