We know we should eat right and exercise, but a new study says bad diet is killing more people every year than smoking! The study published in the journal Lancet says 11 million people die worldwide every year because they aren't eating enough healthy food. That's roughly one in every five deaths.
"I think it's a striking headline, but I think it doesn't surprise me, when we think about also that stats on how many people smoke worldwide vs. all of us have to eat," said Ochsner Health System dietician Molly Kimball. "The opportunity to have detrimental effects from diet really strikes all of us, when smoking doesn't."
Kimball says while that may be a bit of an apples-to-oranges headline, the study does make good points about processed foods that are often high in sodium, and the importance of replacing them with better options.
"It's not just enough to cut back on these things, which I think is a really important thing for us always to think about is what do we need to add to our diet, and so that can make us feel a lot less deprived, said Kimball. "It's not about taking away, it's what we're adding in, and the more that we add in nutrient-rich Omega-3 fish, vegetables, fruits, we are edging out those foods that aren't' so good for us as well."