While conflict and violence continued to be the biggest killers of 2016, guess who was also high up on the list? Heart diseases and tobacco consumption, says a latest study. The large international study also revealed poor diets and mental disorders caused people the greatest ill health. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study published in The Lancet medical journal, revealed that while life expectancy was on a rise, the years people live in poor health happens to be a big concern too, that must not be ignored. The study also revealed that the proportion of life spent being ill is higher in poor countries than in wealthy ones. People have been much less motivated to address issues leading to illnesses. The team also added that a triad of troubles - obesity, conflict, and mental illness - is fast emerging as a stubborn barrier to active lifestyles.
The study involved more than 2,500 researchers in around 130 countries. The findings revealed that in 2016, poor diet was associated with nearly one in five deaths worldwide. Tobacco smoking killed 7.1 million people. Unhealthy diets and diets especially low in whole grains, fruits, nuts, seeds and fish oils, and high in salt were the most common risk factors, contributing to cases of obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high cholesterol. The study found that non-communicable, or chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes caused 72 percent of all deaths worldwide.
The study revealed that heart disease was one of the leading causes of premature death in most regions and killed 9.48 million people globally in 2016. Mental illness was also found to have affected over 1.1 billion people living with psychological or psychiatric disorders and substance abuse problems in 2016. Major depressive disorders ranked in the top 10 causes of ill health in all but four countries worldwide.