Poor diet, inactivity on the rise as a leading cause of death
The study, published in the March 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined data on risk behaviors and mortality and estimated the top leading causes of death in the United States. While tobacco use topped the list, acting as the cause of death for about 435,000 people in 2000, poor diet and activity were close behind, with 400,000 deaths.
The researchers found that deaths from poor diet and physical inactivity had increased by more than a third since a similar assessment was published in 1993. If the increasing trend of overweight and obesity among Americans is not reversed, poor diet and physical inactivity "will likely overtake tobacco as the leading preventable cause of mortality," the researchers wrote.
Overall, the study found that about half of all U.S. deaths can be attributed to largely preventable behaviors and exposures, with tobacco use and poor diet and physical inactivity accounting for a full third of deaths.
The findings show that investments in health prevention programs "are more important than ever and must continue to be high priorities," said CDC Director Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, who was one of the study's researchers.
The increase in deaths linked to poor diet and physical inactivity comes as more Americans than ever before - 64 percent of the adult population - are classified as overweight or obese. With the increase in girth has come a resulting increase in related health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease. In fact, when ranked by direct medical condition, the leading cause of death identified in the study was heart disease.
Other leading causes of death that ranked high in the CDC study were alcohol consumption, with 85,000 deaths, and microbial agents such as influenza and tuberculosis, at 75,000 deaths. Toxic agents such as air pollution accounted for 55,000 deaths; motor vehicle crashes, 43,000; firearms, 29,000; sexual behaviors, 20,000; and drug use, 17,000.
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Slab dieta, inactivitate în creºtere ca o cauza de deces - Poor diet, inactivity on the rise as a leading cause of death - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate