"We are among the best-performing countries in the world when you look at life expectancy and the number of healthy life years. We are doing well in a lot of aspects. Fewer people suffer heart attacks, and fewer under the age of 70 are diagnosed with cancer than before," says Rune Blomhoff. He is professor emeritus at the Department of Nutrition at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences at the University of Oslo.
At the same time, there is room for improvement in several areas, he says. What kind of impact does your diet have on the disease burden in Norway - that is, premature death, a reduced number of healthy life years or years lived with illness? For the first time, the researcher has looked into this, together with, among others, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the group that worked on the new Nordic nutrition recommendations in 2023.
The new study indicates that the disease burden attributable to diet is lowest in Norway compared with the eight other Nordic and Baltic countries. In Norway this association is greatest for ischaemic heart disease - heart attack, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer.
"We have calculated that about 25 per cent of the disease burden from ischaemic heart disease is linked to unhealthy diet, while the same applies to 30 per cent of type 2 diabetes and 8 per cent of all cancers. Colorectal cancer has the strongest link to diet," says Blomhoff.
Norwegians eat more processed meat than the other Nordic countries
In the new study in Lancet Regional Health - Europe the researchers estimate that almost 3,900 Norwegians die prematurely each year from diseases related to unhealthy diet. Each year around 83,000 years of life in this country are also either lost or lived with disease burden for the same reason.
"The problem is especially that we eat a lot of processed meat such as bacon, minced meat, sausages and salami. Norwegians are the number one processed meat eaters in the Nordics; only the Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are worse off," says Blomhoff.
"This accounts for a large share of the years of life that are lost or affected by disease," he adds. Processed meat is meat that, for example, has been smoked, salted or had preservatives such as nitrate or nitrite added. Nitrate and nitrite are used in many foods to extend shelf life.
We eat far too little whole grain, vegetables and fruit
The study covered the Nordic countries and the Baltics. The researchers analysed figures from 2023.
"We are well below the recommendations for how much we should consume of a range of healthy foods. We eat far too little whole grain, vegetables and fruit, and this also affects the disease burden," emphasises Ann Kristin Skrindo Knudsen. She is department director at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and one of the authors of the study.
Norwegians are also among those in the study who consume most sugary drinks.
"Looking at the disease burden in Norway, the two most important dietary factors are that we both eat too much processed meat and, at the same time, too little whole grain," Blomhoff points out.
Authorities can make healthy food cheaper and unhealthy food more expensive
Blomhoff has advice if you want to take steps to improve your own health: "You can eat more fish and plant-based foods instead of processed and red meat. In debates about diet, we often don't address processed meat," he says.
Blomhoff believes it would be important for the authorities to consider how they can influence food prices, in addition to running information campaigns.
"The authorities can use taxes and subsidies to make healthy food cheaper and unhealthy food more expensive. That is what we call healthy tax shifting. In that way people will be influenced to eat more healthly, public health will improve, and social inequalities will be reduced, without changing state revenues."
Reference:
Blomhoff R et al: The burden of dietary risk factors in the Nordic and Baltic countries: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 - The Lancet Regional Health - Europe. Link to article.
