Unhealthy diets ‘accelerating faster than healthy eating habits worldwide’

Unhealthy diets are proliferating worldwide at a faster pace than healthy eating habits, according to a new study published in The Lancet.

Led by the University of Cambridge and involving an international team, the study was the first to assess diet quality in 187 countries, encompassing almost 4.5 billion adults. It analysed data on the consumption of 17 key food items and nutrients related to obesity and major non-communicable diseases, as well as changes in diets between 1990 and 2010.

Three major diet patterns emerged – a favourable one based on healthy food items like fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains and fish; an unfavourable one defined by unhealthy items like meats, sugar-sweetened drinks, fat and sodium; and an overall diet pattern based on all 17 food groups.

Consumption of the healthy diet was shown to have improved during the past two decades, but was outpaced by the increased intake of unhealthy foods in most world regions.

Dr Fumiaki Imamura, from the Medical Research Council epidemiology unit at the University of Cambridge, said: "Policy actions in multiple domains are essential to help people achieve optimal diets to control the obesity epidemic and reduce non-communicable diseases in all regions of the world."

By 2020, it is predicted that non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and diet-related cancers will account for 75 percent of all deaths.