Focus On Eating Healthy Foods More Important Than Avoiding Junk Food: Study

It has been stressed upon enough times for it to be drilled in our psyche- eating healthy food is crucial for a healthy life. Healthy foods including whole grains, fruits and vegetables are said to be good for a healthy body and mind and health experts have been known to advise everyone to include good portions of all these foods in their daily meals. A new study has now said that more than how much junk food we eat, what's important is how much healthy food we consume with our meals. Previous studies and research have all focused on the down sides of consuming junk foods or processed foods, creating a fear of these dishes. Recent studies have linked junk foods to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and even higher mortality risk.

But according to the recent study, an increased focus on not eating junk foods may be the reason that we're not able to eat healthy. The study titled, "Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017" was published in the journal Lancet. The massive study spanned a total of 27 years and it gathered the data from adults aged between 25 years and older, from a total of 195 countries. The study looked at the relationship between dietary habits, particularly suboptimal diets and lifestyle diseases or non-communicable diseases, like Type-2 diabetes, heart diseases and cancers.

The study is a significant one as it shifts the focus from telling people to stop eating junk foods, to informing them about the need to include more healthy foods in their diets. Some of the key findings of the study were mentioned in the report in Lancet: "In 2017, 11 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 10-12) deaths and 255 million (234-274) DALYs were attributable to dietary risk factors. High intake of sodium (3 million [1-5] deaths and 70 million [34-118] DALYs), low intake of whole grains (3 million [2-4] deaths and 82 million [59-109] DALYs), and low intake of fruits (2 million [1-4] deaths and 65 million [41-92] DALYs) were the leading dietary risk factors for deaths and DALYs globally and in many countries."