Poor nutrition – defined as the excessive intake of calories and / or harmful nutritional components, and / or the insufficient intake of beneficial nutrients – has huge personal health and economic costs. Investing in nutrition is one of the highest ROI investments one can make, as increasingly recognized through initiatives such as the Food is Medicine program of the US Department of Health.
Introduction
Poor nutrition is one of the world’s leading causes of ill health, with huge consequences for personal welfare – physical, mental, and financial health. We define poor nutrition as a combination of some or all of the following:
- Insufficient or excessive consumption of calories
- Insufficient intake of essential nutrients such as Vitamins, minerals, proteins, beneficial fats, and micro-molecules such as antioxidants
- Excessive intake of harmful nutrients such as added sugars, salt, unhealthy fats, and ultra-processed ingredients
The Health – and Financial – Effects of Poor Nutrition
An assessment of global mortality statistics indicates that 73% of all causes of death are from proximate causes where nutrition has a role to play in disease prevention or progression:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD): Nutrition is the most important factor in preventing premature CVD death and disability, surpassing smoking abstinence and physical activity, according to various research studies[1]
- Cancer: The American Institute of Cancer Research recommends 10 practices for cancer prevention. 6 of these pertain to dietary interventions (8, if breastfeeding for infants and limiting alcohol consumption are also counted as dietary factors)
- Diabetes: Nutritional interventions (reach and keep a healthy body weight; eat a healthy diet and avoid sugar and saturated fat) are key recommended interventions to prevent or delay the onset of Type-2 diabetes
- Dementia: Research has found that following a MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet for as few as 5 years had an impact of slowing brain ageing by 7.5 years[2].
- Neonatal and Maternal Deaths: Undernutrition is estimated to be an underlying cause of 45% of child mortality and anemia contributes to 20% of maternal mortality[3]
- Liver disease: Eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly are the best ways to prevent liver disease or to reverse liver disease in its early stages, according to the American Liver Foundation
While nutrition cannot eliminate death, it has a profound impact on longevity as well as on healthy ageing, and as a consequence, on the reduction of healthcare expenditures. According to the Rockefeller Foundation’s report, True Cost of Food: Measuring What Matters to Transform the US Food System, “the economic costs of suboptimal diets due to health care spending and lost productivity are estimated at $1.1 trillion each year (in the US) — equaling the economic output of the entire food sector”.
Investing in Nutritional Health is Easy and Inexpensive
Compared with corrective health interventions by way of interventional health care or pharmaceuticals, nutritional health is far more accessible and affordable for a large proportion of the world’s population:
- Nutritional health relies on a spectrum of food products, and basic nutrition improvements – such as increasing the intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and vegetarian proteins – are often within reach for communities around the world.
- Local foods, which are both nutrient-dense and culturally relevant, are generally cheaper than imported or processed foods.
- Nutritional interventions have low to negligible risk of side effects, and are not dependent upon professional prescriptions or monitoring
- Nutritional deficiencies are most apparent with micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals and omega-3 fats, which can be more easily addressed via inexpensive food fortification and supplementation
However, nutritional health does call for long-term commitment and discipline. We believe these can be achieved through the development of healthy dietary habits.
Steps you can take today towards building Healthy Dietary Habits
We have distilled the process of transitioning to a nutritionally healthy lifestyle into several simple steps, which can be progressively integrated into your everyday food habits:
- Invest a little effort in understanding key nutrients and the roles they play in your health. See for example our distilled research on fats, proteins, antioxidants and more at https://planit.club/blogs/beyond-taste-buds-the-fascinating-world-of-food-and-nutrition
- Periodically – perhaps once every 6 months – assess your nutritional health baseline (body mass index or BMI, calorie intake, activity levels, quantities of food across food groups, extent of eating out, etc.)
- Progressively develop a few micro habits to improve the quality of your nutrition:
- Control portion sizes and eat to ~80% fullness
- Prioritize nutritious food intake by following simple guidelines such as the National Institute of Nutrition’s Dietary Guidelines for Indians
- Consciously reduce nutritionally poor foods such as highly processed food, fast food, red meats, fried foods, desserts and other foods with added sugar. For example, you can transition to sugar-free tea or coffee by progressively reducing the quantum of added sugar
- Prioritize cooking at home over eating out
- Avoid bingeing at the various opportunities that will, invariably, present themselves - parties, eating out, festive occasions
- Secure professional assistance in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of your nutritional wellness plan:
- Retain the services of a qualified nutritionist
- Invest in scientific baselining via diagnostic check-ups
- Set short-, medium- and long-term goals towards your nutritional health
- Get precise and personalized meal plans structured to help you achieve these goals
- Try to (mostly) adhere to your meal plans
- Complement nutritional interventions with other dimensions of wellness to maximise benefits - fitness, mental health, sleep, social connections, spiritual wellness and more
- Track outcomes to keep your motivation going
Closing remarks
Nutrition is an under-appreciated but highly significant dimension of wellness, with the power to deliver incredible returns by way of length and quality of life, as well as reduced costs on the management of health conditions. This power of nutrition has only just begun to get recognized through initiatives such as the Food is Medicine program of the US Department of Health.
Accessing this power of nutrition is both easy and inexpensive, but requires long-term commitment and discipline. While some interventions can be self-initiated, we recommend professional support to harness the fullest potential of nutrition towards your health.
References:
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0033062018300872?via%3Dihub
[2] https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/nutrition/dementia-diet
[3] https://www.usaid.gov/role-nutrition-preventing-child-and-maternal-deaths-technical-guidance-brief