| WHO Rates Alcohol Top Health Risk | |
|
In the world's developing countries, alcohol turned out to be the biggest menace to health, followed by high blood pressure and tobacco. Underweight and overweight were fourth and fifth respectively, then cholesterol, low fruit and vegetable intake.
But in the world's richest nations, alcohol was also a top risk. The biggest health risk was tobacco, closely followed by high blood pressure, alcohol, cholesterol, overweight, low fruit and vegetable intake and inadequate exercise.
Overall, the top 10 health hazards worldwide, ranked by how much disease and death they cause, are: underweight, unsafe sex, high blood pressure, tobacco, alcohol, contaminated water, sanitation and hygiene, iron deficiency, indoor pollution, high cholesterol and obesity.
The report ranked the hazards separately for three groups: the poorest regions, other developing countries and the developed world. The report did not rank health hazards for individual countries.
The WHO report, one of largest research projects ever undertaken by the agency, concluded that alcohol is responsible for far more deaths and disease than previously thought.
The report examined the 20 biggest risks to human health and their impact on disease, disability and death. WHO said if these threats were reduced, at least an extra decade of healthy life could be achieved in the poorest countries, and people in the richest nations could gain another five years of healthy life.
A summary of the findings was published in the online version of The Lancet medical journal.
Previous Features
