Diet, inactivity the big killers

By ELIZABETH BINNING

Bad diet isn't just causing weight problems in New Zealand - it is the the country's top killer.

And if a poor diet doesn't get you, there is a good chance that smoking, air pollution or a lack of exercise will.

The findings are from a Ministry of Health report into the top 20 causes of death in New Zealand, the first time such a comprehensive mortality analysis has been carried out.

Previous studies have looked at only a small number of risk factors, such as tobacco use, nutrition or injury. But an analysis of figures from 1997 shows that diet and insufficient physical activity are linked to 11,000 deaths that year, almost 40 per cent of the total.

The ministry says healthy diet and moderate activity could save hundreds of lives annually.


Air pollution was linked to 970 deaths. It is estimated that 40 per cent of those reflect vehicle emissions.

Occupational diseases and injuries are estimated to have accounted for at least 190 deaths.

Researchers found behavioural factors - such as poor diet, a lack of exercise, violence, drugs and alcohol - accounted for nearly half of the 21,000 deaths in 1997.

Biological factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol accounted for 10,000 deaths, and deprivation, caused by socio-economic factors, was responsible for 5000.

The rest were from injury, inaccessible or unsafe health care or environmental factors such as infection, pollution and accidents.

Dr Cliff Tasman-Jones, scientific director of the Nutrition Foundation, said that although a bad diet alone did not normally kill, it contributed to other known killers such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.