The link between poor diet and disease has been well established over decades of nutritional research. Despite advances in our understanding of the link between nutrient deficiencies, poor diet and the development of degeneration, large proportions of the global population continue to consume low quality food. In Western nations, poor diet selection and multiple deficiency disease in the presence of over supply of calories has lead to a pandemic of chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. In contrast, developing nations tend to have populations that are undernourished with many vitamins and minerals but at the same time do not attain the required energy intakes or protein levels. This often results in infectious diseases and respiratory problems because of damaged immunity. In both cases millions die from dietary deficiencies and imbalances that are largely preventable.
For example, researcher published in the Journal of Nutrition in 20091 analysed the diets of 7441 Australian subjects using frequent food questionnaires. The researchers demonstrated that those with higher quality diets as measured by current recommended guidelines, had lower readings for systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as lower fasting glucose levels. Diet quality was also inversely associated with abdominal obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes, while a lack of compliance with guidelines was associated with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors. This illustrates nicely the link between diet quality and the degenerative disease of obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes prevalent amongst Western nations. In large part, diets deficient in vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids coupled with excessive sugar, fat and calorie consumption, are responsible for this disease profile.
In contrast, other research published in the Journal of Nutrition in 20092 investigated the infectious disease found amongst ageing (≥ 65 years) low income Ecuadorian subjects. The area studied had a population where over 50 % of the population live on less than US$54 per month. The results showed that this population of low socioeconomic status had a high burden of infectious diseases which was coupled with multiple micronutrient deficiencies of essential vitamins and minerals. The study found that a moderate proportion of the tested individuals were anaemic, which was alarming considering the high altitude (2800 meters above sea level) of the study. Colds, influenza and pneumonia were fairly common infections amongst the individual subjects. Analysis of blood samples revealed deficiencies of vitamin C, vitamin D, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, folic acid and zinc, all nutrients associated with proper immune function. .
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