Which countries have the healthiest diets in the world?

Belgians are known for their chocolate and waffles, while Hungarians are famous for their rich goulash. But now, a global study has revealed they are among the nations with the worst diets in the world.

Meanwhile, Chad and Sierra Leone, in Africa, have the best diets, consuming the most fruit, vegetables, nuts and wholegrains.

The study, published in The Lancet Global health journal assessed the quality of diet in 197 countries, covering almost 4.5 billion adults, 90 per cent of the global population.

Between 1990 and 2010 researchers found the greatest improvements in diets in high-income nations, with small reductions in the consumption of unhealthy foods and increased intake of healthy foods like fruit and vegetables. Despite this, people living in many of the wealthiest regions – such as the U.S. and Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand still have some of the poorest quality diets in the world. This is because they have some of the highest consumption of unhealthy food worldwide, researchers said.

 The countries with the healthiest diets overall were:

1. Chad

2. Sierra Leone

3. Mali

4. Gambia

5.Uganda

6. Ghana

7. Ivory Coast

8. Senegal

9. Israel

10. Somalia

The countries with the least healthy diets overall were:

1. Armenia

2. Hungary 

3. Belgium

4. Czech Rebublic

5. Kazakhstan

6. Belarus

7. Argentina 

8. Turkmenistan

9. Mongolia

10. Slovakia  

This analysis was performed by the Global Burden of Diseases Nutrition and Chronic Diseases Expert Group (NutriCoDE).

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