With the rapid rate of urbanization among developing countries, more and more people are susceptible to poor health because of "Western Diet." By 2050, it is expected that almost three-fourths of the world's population will be concentrated in urban areas, a new study suggests. In line with this, researchers also explained that more and more people are going for the Western diet.
"[There's a] nutrition transition occurring around the world," David Tilman, professor of Ecology at the University of Minnesota wrote. Tilman, whose study looked into the diet choices of people around the world, and their effect on health, conclude that individuals with higher income prefer high-calorie diet and meat. The result is that more people are at risk of suffering from diet-related illnesses and diseased.
"We have a whole new group of people who are malnourished because they eat foods that are no good for them, that have no nutritional benefit," Tilman said, thus paving way for a new type of malnutrition that does not stem from hunger, but from eating foods that hamper health.
Tilman also mentioned about the rise of consuming processed food, which have low nutritional value and empty calories.
"Diets low in fruit and vegetables have a strong negative health impact," Tilman explained.
Then, there's Western diet, which is rich in processed foods.
Western diet is "stuffed with over-refined sugars, highly refined and saturated fats, animal protein and a reduced intake of plant-based fibers," Ian Myles, from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said.
Myles explained that refined foods trigger false immune attack because they appear to be 'supposed bacteria' which confuse the body. When the body is at threat of real infection, its capacity to fight back is already weakened.
Myles also explained that processed foods deplete the good bacteria in the gut, causing obesity and triggering diseases and health problems like diabetes and cancer.
