Life expectancy growth in Europe has virtually stopped due to overeating, excessive alcohol consumption, and insufficient exercise. This is the conclusion of a team of United Kingdom (UK) researchers who published their respective findings in The Lancet Public Health journal, Euronews reports.

They note that decades of improvement in life expectancy in Europe has stopped since 2011. The study was conducted in 20 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, as well as the UK nations of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The greatest stagnation in terms of life expectancy since 2011 was recorded in Great Britain and Germany. Norway, which has a national sugar-free policy, was the only country where life expectancy continued to increase until the Covid pandemic.

The study authors said the overall slowdown was due to an increase in deaths from heart disease tied to obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, poor diets, and a lack of exercise.

The independent researchers said that some of the shift could also be due to population-level changes over time.

“The demographics of the European population have changed markedly in some countries such as the UK, France, and Germany because of increased migration compared to Nordic countries,” Tom Sanders, professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics at King's College London, said in a statement.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2019 and 2021, life expectancy fell in most of the countries studied.

Respiratory infections and other pandemic-related health issues drove the downturn from 2019 to 2021, but countries where life expectancy gains had slowed most in the 2010s were also more affected by the pandemic.

For example, Greece and England saw the biggest decreases in life expectancy during the pandemic, losing a respective 0.61 and 0.6 years—more than seven months each.

Meanwhile, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, and Ireland continued to see their life expectancies rise, and longevity remained level in Belgium.

That indicates people in the Nordics, Ireland, and Belgium were better prepared to weather the pandemic, the study authors said.

“Comparing countries, national policies that improved population health were linked to better resilience to future shocks,” Nick Steel, a professor at the University of East Anglia in the UK and the study’s lead researcher, said in a statement.

The study authors said government policies could try to curb health risk factors by promoting healthy diets and exercise and ensuring access to medical care.

Steel calls for a state-level solution to the problem of unhealthy food, placing special labels on highly processed foods and promoting healthy, environmentally friendly options.