Premature Mortality Dropped With Adoption of Food Guidelines

THURSDAY, July 16, 2020 -- Adoption of national food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) is associated with about a 15 percent reduction in premature mortality, according to a study published online July 15 in The BMJ.

Marco Springmann, Ph.D., from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a modeling study in 85 countries to examine the health and environmental implications of adopting national FBDGs using a comparative risk assessment of deaths from chronic diseases and country-specific environmental footprints.

The researchers found that adoption of national FBDGs correlated with reductions in premature mortality of 15 percent on average and mixed changes in environmental resource demand, including an average reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 13 percent. Most of the national guidelines (83 of 85) were not compatible with at least one of the global health and environmental targets when universally adopted globally: 34 percent were incompatible with the agenda on noncommunicable diseases and 67 to 87 percent were incompatible with environmental targets, including the Paris Climate Agreement. Similar health and environmental changes were seen in association with the adoption of World Health Organization recommendations, while adoption of the EAT-Lancet recommendations correlated with 34 percent greater decreases in premature mortality, more than threefold greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and general attainment of global health and environmental targets.

"The development of FBDGs that are healthy and sustainable is an important starting point for encouraging the uptake of healthy and sustainable diets at a population level," the authors write.

Posted: July 2020