A study recently published in PLoS Medicine led by the Harvard School of Public, in conjunction with the University of Toronto and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, is the most comprehensive to date taking into consideration how diet, lifestyle and metabolic chronic disease contribute to mortality in the U.S.

The results found that many of these factors include dietary and lifestyle risk factors that are preventable. The number of deaths that occur in the U.S. annually are attributed to the following risk factors listed below -- all of which were considered premature or preventable.

Smoking: 467,000

High blood pressure: 395,000

Overweight-obesity: 216,000

Inadequate physical activity and inactivity: 191,000

High blood sugar: 190,000

High LDL cholesterol: 113,000

High dietary salt: 102,000

Low dietary omega-3 fatty acids (seafood): 84,000

High dietary trans fatty acids: 82,000

Alcohol use: 64,000 (alcohol use averted a balance of 26,000 deaths from heart disease, stroke and diabetes, because moderate drinking reduces risk of these diseases. But these deaths were outweighed by 90,000 alcohol-related deaths from traffic and other injuries, violence, cancers and a range of other diseases).

Low intake of fruits and vegetables: 58,000

Low dietary poly-unsaturated fatty acids: 15,000

The study was the first of its kind to look at a wide range of contributing risk factors, including diet, lifestyle, smoking, alcohol and metabolic factors of the U.S. population, and to figure how many deaths were a result of each risk factor.

Source: PhysOrg.com; April 28, 2009

Labels: high blood pressure, overweight, smoking, weight loss