WORLD
The Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN), founded in 2018, says malnutrition ranks ahead of tobacco, lack of exercise, and obesity in the cause of disease.
Niklas Oppenrieder, PAN’s medical director, said, “The current state of scientific research clearly shows that the most common so-called widespread diseases are mainly caused by a few risk factors. Nutrition or malnutrition plays by far the most important role.”
He also added that “…73% of all deaths worldwide and more than half of the Disability Adjusted Life Years are caused by non-communicable diseases. According to the latest Global Burden of Disease study, the biggest risk factor for these diseases is malnutrition, which ranks it ahead of the other major risk factors of tobacco consumption, physical inactivity, and obesity.”
Oppentiedex said the diseases mainly include cardiovascular diseases (e.g. high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke), diabetes mellitus type 2, obesity, and various cancers. He also said that nutrition also has a major influence on other common diseases such as inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, skin diseases, and dementia.