“Female” and “male” products that bring death closer have been identified

Many people know that poor nutrition is one of the main causes of the development of “diseases of old age”: cardiovascular, endocrine, cancer, etc. According to Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Federal Research Center for Nutrition, Biotechnology and Food Safety Dmitry Nikityuk, today Diseases caused by poor diet cause the death of 27% of Russians.

At the same time, scientists have established which specific products have the greatest impact on the mortality of men, and which – on the mortality of women in the country.

Dmitry Nikityuk, speaking at the congress “Nutrition and Dietetics for the Health of the Russian Population,” said that today 63% of men and 60% of women in the country are obese, which means they have a 10 times higher risk of developing diabetes and an 80% increased risk risk of arterial hypertension. Over the next 20–30 years, a loss of 4% of Russia’s GDP is expected due to obesity-related causes.

Every third Russian has cardiovascular diseases. Every fourth man over 44 years of age suffers from coronary heart disease; 34% of women and 27% of men over 50 years of age have osteoporosis. 43% of children under 4 years of age and 51% of pregnant women have iron deficiency anemia. On average, vitamin deficiency affects 40% of the country’s adult and child population.

Oksana Drapkina, director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “National Medical Research Center for TPM” of the Russian Ministry of Health, chief freelance specialist in therapy and general medical practice, shared the latest data from the ESSE-RF epidemiological study, which was conducted in 29 regions of the country among almost 93 thousand Russians. The prevalence of obesity among the population is increasing, but it has increased exponentially only among men 35–64 years old since 2003: “We are seeing a jump in body mass index and waist size in the male population. However, in the period 2020–2022, for the first time we saw a trend toward an increase in the proportion of abdominal obesity among Russians, and this is a very alarming trend.”

Let us remember that abdominal obesity is a type in which fat deposits are concentrated in the abdominal area, and it is this type of obesity that is most dangerous from the point of view of the development of diabetes mellitus and heart and vascular diseases. For example, according to Drapkina, today 60% of the country’s population has elevated cholesterol levels (this happens more often in women).

The main drivers of obesity, according to Oksana Drapkina, are the availability of fast food near home: the closer the catering outlet, the higher the prevalence of obesity among the population. According to the study, daily consumption of vegetables, fruits, liquid forms of dairy products, cheese and cottage cheese is associated with improved survival. Meanwhile, according to Dmitry Nikityuk, Russians consume 36–38% less dairy products than necessary, and 29–35% less fruit. The deficiency of fish in our diet generally reaches 74%.

The ESSE-RF study found that on average, men eat 3.5% of servings of vegetables and fruits per day, and women – 3.8%. At the same time, 12.7% of men and 9.3% of women do not eat any vegetables or fruits at all. Only 24.4% of men and 27.9% of women eat the recommended amount (5 or more servings).

Scientists have also determined which bad eating habits have the greatest impact on the mortality rate of Russians. They turned out to be fundamentally different for men and women. Salt turned out to be the main food killer of Russian men. “In Russian men, any over-salting and the habit of re-salting are clearly associated with an increase in mortality; its risks increase by 1.5–1.6 times in men who use a salt shaker frequently,” says Oksana Drapkina.

The fact is that adding salt to food sharply increases the risks of arterial hypertension and death from cardiovascular diseases. In our country, with a norm of 5 g per day, we eat up to 15 g of salt.

In women, a sweet tooth is more often responsible for the increased risk of mortality. According to the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Biotechnology”, on average Russians eat three times more sweets than normal.

As for addiction to alcohol, since 2013, according to ESSE-RF, the number of Russians who do not drink alcohol has almost doubled – from 18.4% to 37.7%, and the share of those who drink in excessive quantities has increased. decreased by four times (from 5.9% to 1.5%). As Oksana Drapkina says, a man with low income and low education in the country is more inclined to consume alcohol.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29159 dated November 17, 2023

Newspaper headline:
Tasty to death