Research
Macro partitioning
High dietary salt, low omega-3 fatty acids, and high trans fatty acids are the dietary risks with the largest mortality effects, causing 102,000, 84,000, and 82,000 deaths respectively.
Reduce sodium intake, increase omega-3 fatty acids (e.g., from seafood), and eliminate trans fats. These three dietary factors are responsible for over 268,000 deaths annually, making them key targets for dietary improvement.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
High dietary salt (102,000; 97,000–107,000), low dietary omega-3 fatty acids (84,000; 72,000–96,000), and high dietary trans fatty acids (82,000; 63,000–97,000) were the dietary risks with the largest mortality effects.
Why this rating
Based on systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Source
Correction: The Preventable Causes of Death in the United States: Comparative Risk Assessment of Dietary, Lifestyle, and Metabolic Risk Factors
Goodarz Danaei et al. · PLoS Medicine · 2011
DOI 10.1371/annotation/0ef47acd-9dcc-4296-a897-872d182cde57
Meta-analysisCited 16×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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