More and more reasons to live healthy

Over the past week, numerous studies and reports have been published touting the benefits of healthy living. Much of this is directly related to how and what we eat but also our size and our level of physical activity also play a role.

Here are brief descriptions of the recent news:

Study links 180,000 global deaths to sugary drinks

• This includes almost 25,000 adult Americans
• 1/100 deaths of obese people can be blamed on sweetened beverages
• 3/4 of these deaths are due to diabetes
• United States was third in death attributable to sugary drinks among the 35 "large" countries
• Cuba was highest amongst all countries

Excess salt blamed for 2.3 million deaths from Cardiovascular Disease worldwide

• 187 countries consumed, on average, 3950mg sodium/day - ~ 2x the recommended daily intake
• 1/10 death in the US can be linked to high salt intake
• 1/3 deaths occurred in people < 69 years-of-age

Patients with chronic kidney disease live longer with healthy living

• Healthy Living = "not smoking", regular exercise, avoiding low body weight
• Patients with the highest "healthy living score" were 53% less likely to die than patients with the lowest "healthy living score"
• Patients who never smoked were 46% less likely to die
• Patients who exercised regularly were 20% less likely to die