What do European diets mean for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart failure, which are major causes of illness and death?
The following section describes the metrics on Burden of Disease that was embedded in Deliverable 6.3.
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The impact of diets on diet-related disease burdens is a well-developed field of study in public health nutrition. The integration of these epidemiological drivers with agriculture and economic drivers in the SUSFANS toolbox has not been achieved; metrics development remains therefore an agenda for further evolution of the metrics system.
We define three performance metrics (PM) for balanced and sufficient diets: a metric based on (1) food-based dietary guidelines, a metric based on (2) nutrient recommendations, and a metric based on (3) energy balance. A fourth component which is not included here due to lack of model capacity, but is as important and needs to be given a place in this discourse is the disease burden of diets as influenced by the food systems. Urbanization, economic development and globalization has brought a big change in diets and lifestyles and ensuing effect of non-communicable diseases including – obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, stroke and some forms of cancer (WHO and FAO, 2003). Most of these diseases can be controlled through a better diet that is more balanced and nutritious.