New Delhi: A study has found that dietary risk factors — high intake of sodium, low fruit consumption and a lack of whole grains — were responsible for 5.91 million cardiovascular deaths in 2023.
Researchers, including those from Beijing Children’s Hospital in China, analysed data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023, and evaluated 13 dietary risk factors over a 33-year period.
China faced the highest absolute number of diet-related cardiovascular deaths at 1.36 million, followed by India at 1.11 million.
The analysis, published in The Innovation Nutrition journal, also revealed that ischaemic heart disease and stroke are the primary outcomes of poor dietary habits.
The study also highlighted a sharp gender divide, with men consistently experiencing a higher burden attributable to diet than females across nearly all regions.
“Our findings underscore that improving dietary quality must remain a central pillar of global heart disease prevention,” author Guoshuang Feng, of the Big Data Center at Beijing Children’s Hospital, said.
“While we are seeing a decline in age-standardised mortality rates due to better healthcare, the total absolute burden is staggering. We are essentially in a race against an aging population that is increasingly vulnerable to the harms of high-salt and low-nutrient diets,” Feng said.
The researchers said that while medical advances have helped lower per-capita death rates, the absolute number of lives lost continues to rise, driven by the “top three” list of dietary risk factors.
“Globally, high sodium intake was the leading risk for CVD (cardiovascular disease) mortality and DALYs (disability-adjusted life years), followed by diet low in fruits and whole grains, particularly for ischaemic heart disease and stroke,” the authors wrote.
“High-middle and high SDI (sociodemographic index) regions experienced the greatest burden from high sodium intake, whereas low-middle and low SDI regions were more affected by low fruits intake,” they said.
Looking at mortality rates proportional to population size, Pacific Island nations, including the Solomon Islands and Nauru, faced the heaviest burden — the researchers attributed the result to a “nutrition transition” in these islands, where fresh local produce is being replaced by imported, highly processed foods.
Targeted, context-specific policy interventions are required, the team said.
For high-population countries such as China, structural measures such as a mandatory front-of-pack sodium labelling and food reformulation are essential, they recommended.
In smaller, vulnerable island economies, the focus must shift toward food sovereignty and increasing the availability of affordable, fresh fruits and vegetables, the researchers said.
