Study: Bad Behavior Is on the Rise

A new study out on Friday claims that deaths related to “avoidable health risks” are on the rise. Researchers say that deaths related to high blood pressure and smoking have “shot up” 23% since 1990.

I find this so peculiar because the government is always giving me these guidelines and forcing companies to shove information in my face so I know exactly how unhealthy everything in the world is for me. And yet…

According to results published in British journal The Lancet, scientists concluded that a range of 79 health dangers contributed to 30.8 million deaths in 2013, 5.7 million more than in 1990 even when population growth and aging were taken into account.

“To put it in plain English, we are behaving badly,” study co-author Ali Mokdad of the University of Washington told AFP.

“I mean we know very well that smoking kills and that blood pressure is another killer,” he said by phone. “Nobody risks not changing the oil in their car, but nobody pays the same attention to their own body.”

Or government “guidelines” apparently.

High blood pressure, followed by smoking, a person’s height and weight, high blood sugar levels, and a diet high in sodium are the top risk factors.

Here is where things get real, according to the study: “Diets high in red meat and sugary drinks and low in fruits and vegetables accounted for 21 percent of deaths in 2013.”

Where people live accounted for significant differences in what led them to get sick or die.

Smoking was the number two danger for men, leading to 4.4 million deaths in 2013. For women the number was about a two thirds lower.

Also, alcohol was among the top 10 risks for men, but it did not make the leading causes of death for women, who were most at risk due to diet-related problems like eating foods high in salt.

Oh, this is a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded study. The study was conducted worldwide and “based on a wide range of data including World Health Organisation and World Bank reports, with further figures provided by roughly 1,000 partner scientists based in over 100 countries.”