US News & World Report: Could Fruits and Veggies Save Hearts Worldwide?

By Robert Preidt

Getting people worldwide to eat more fruits and vegetables could significantly reduce disability and premature death from heart disease, researchers report.

For the study, investigators analyzed data and previous studies to determine how fruit and vegetable consumption affected the number of "heart disease-related disability-adjusted life years" (DALYs) -- healthy years lost to disability or death -- in 195 countries. Each DALY is one lost year of healthy life.

The Atlantic: How Back Pain Took Over the World

By Olga Khazan

The newest iteration of the Global Burden of Disease study, which tracks the prevalence of deaths and diseases worldwide, contains some good news: On average people are living about a decade longer than they were in 1980. But there’s a catch: Health hasn’t improved as fast as life expectancy overall, which means that for many, those long, final years are spent hobbled by illness and disability.

Professor Theo Vos is quoted.

Humanosphere: A New Way to Measure Progress in Global Health

By Sean McKee, special to Humanosphere

The world has made tremendous progress in global health during the past 25 years, reducing the impact of some major killers like HIV or, well, childbirth, and greatly expanding access to drugs or vaccines to prevent and treat many millions of the poorest people on the planet.

But sustaining that rate of progress is likely to get a lot harder. And measuring success, or failure for that matter, is likely to get more important.

HealthDay: U.S. Life Expectancy Lags Behind Other Wealthy Nations

By Dennis Thompson

THURSDAY, Oct. 6, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- The United States lags behind other advanced nations when it comes to infant mortality and the life expectancy of its citizens, according to a comprehensive review of global health statistics.

The health of U.S. citizens is specifically challenged by smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, drug abuse and gun violence, said study co-author Dr. Mohsen Naghavi. He's a professor with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle.

CBS News: Air Pollution Takes a Deadly Toll

By Brian Mastroianni

The numbers are sobering -- more than 5.5 million people die prematurely each year as the result of household and outdoor air pollution, according to new research presented Friday at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

What areas are most at risk? The study found more than half of these deaths occur in China and India, two of the world's fastest-growing economies.

NBC News: What's Killing Us? It's Mostly Our Own Bad Habits

By Maggie Fox

Americans may worry about pollution and harmful chemicals in their air and water, but a new study of the major causes of death confirms what most doctors know: We are our own worst enemies.

The leading causes of death have to do with bad habits, including smoking, poor diet and a lack of exercise, the report from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington finds.

Pages