The food we eat is putting 11 million of us into an early grave each year, an influential study shows.
The Global Burden of Disease Study is the most authoritative assessment of how people are dying in every country in the world.
The BBC reports the analysis found that our daily diet is a bigger killer than smoking and is now involved in one in five deaths around the world.
Salt ‑ whether in bread, soy sauce or processed meals ‑ shortened the highest number of lives.
Researchers say this study is not about obesity, but "poor quality" diets damaging hearts and causing cancer.
The dangerous diets were those containing:
Too much salt ‑ three million deaths
Too few whole grains ‑ three million deaths
Too little fruit ‑ two million deaths
Low levels of nuts, seeds, vegetables, omega‑3 from seafood and fibre were the other major killers.
[Source: BBC]
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