Diet and the Burden of Disease
In reviewing the burden of disease attributable to nutrition , Joceline Pomerleau, of the Lab at School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and her colleagues concluded that the variations of health patterns in Europe were largely attributable to the differences in dietary intake. More specifically, they were able to show that intakes of fruits and vegetables were responsible for differences in age-standardized death rates from ischemic heart disease. The Salt Institute followed that line of thinking and, using the FAO and WHO databases on diet and health, determined the role of fruits and vegetables on cardiovascular disease in those countries included in the well-known InterSalt study. Predictably, the data revealed that the higher the percentage of fruits and vegetables and the diet, the lower the rate of cardiovascular disease. At the same time, the data indicated that cardiovascular disease decreased as sodium consumption increased. The data corresponds to the results of the initial DASH diet study which made it plain that a balanced diet, high in fruits and vegetables leads to good health, and is unaffected by salt intake.
