Poor diet causes more deaths than tobacco worldwide, study finds In a new analysis, researchers estimate that 11 million deaths worldwide are linked to poor diets. The study was conducted by an international group of hundreds of researchers, known as the 2017 Global Burden of Disease Diet Collaborators. It was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and published in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet as an open-access study. The modeling study estimated global dietary intake and correlated it with observational data on the effects of various components of the diet on the risk of disease and death. The researchers examined 15 dietary risk factors that corresponded to 15 different food types. Next, they used data from published meta-analyses to estimate the effects of various aspects of the diet on the risk of death or disease. They found that the main dietary factors that contributed to death were: high sodium, low whole grains, low fruit, and low nuts. The least optimal diets caused more deaths than any other risk globally, including smoking. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the importance of a varied, healthy diet. Although researchers have made every effort to examine the relationship between diet, disease and death, the data are based on estimates and assumptions, as randomized controlled trials are not possible in this area. Researchers have also used observational studies to estimate the effect of each diet component on the risk of disease or death, and observational studies cannot prove that diet causes disease or death because other unmeasured factors may contribute to disease. Despite these limitations, they are still of great importance. The main objective of the study was to recommend that you eat more whole grains, fruits, nuts, and reduce your salt intake.