By 2030 the number of deaths due to inadequate food is expected to surpass those caused by tobacco in Portugal, which spends 10% of its total health expenditure on treating overweight-related diseases
The warnings are contained in the new National Program for the Promotion of Healthy Eating (PNPAS) 2022-2030 of the Directorate General of Health presented today and that states that health spending on diseases related to overweight is equivalent to 207 euros per person annually.
According to the document, the 10% of health expenditure that the country devotes to treating these diseases is higher than the average of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (8.4%), a figure that represents 3% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The projections for 2030 also indicate that, of the total deaths projected, the percentage attributable to dietary errors will be 13.8% and 12% to overweight and obesity, "surpassing smoking whose projected percentage of attributable deaths will be 11.1%.
The plan estimates that between 2020 and 2050 overweight and associated diseases could contribute to a decrease in average life expectancy by about 2.2 years.
"Inadequate diet is one of the main preventable causes of chronic diseases, loss of quality of life and premature mortality in Portugal. It is estimated that in the coming years, inadequate nutrition may surpass tobacco in the ranking of modifiable risk factors that most influence the burden of disease at the national level," the document also warns.
Inadequate diet, one of the main preventable causes of chronic non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, cancer, cerebrovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, contributed to 7.3% of years of life lost due to disability and 11.4% of mortality in 2019.
The data now released on the diet of the Portuguese also indicate that 76% of the Portuguese population ingests salt above the maximum tolerated level and 24.3% has a sugar intake above the maximum value recommended by the World Health Organization, a percentage that is much higher in children (40.7%) and adolescents (48.7%).
Furthermore, 56% of the Portuguese population doesn't reach the recommended daily consumption of fruit and vegetables - with the percentage "particularly worrying among children (72%) and adolescents (78%)".
According to the document, ultra-processed foods contribute to about 24% of total daily energy intake and 29% of total daily food consumption comes from a set of foods that are not included in the food wheel (cakes, sweets, cookies, salty snacks, pizzas, soft drinks, nectars and alcoholic beverages).
"Obesity, as a chronic disease and simultaneously a risk factor for the development of other diseases, affects 28.7% of the adult Portuguese population (about two million people), with more than half of the population being overweight (67.6%)," stresses the DGS document.
The plan also highlights that obesity and other chronic diseases associated with poor diet do not affect all population groups equally, since available data suggest that obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure "disproportionately affect people with greater socioeconomic vulnerability".
The PNPAS was created in 2012 as a priority health program and the document now released integrates the new strategic guidelines developed in the context of the new National Health Plan 2021-2030.
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