A new study shows a slowdown in life expectancy growth in Europe. The United Kingdom has the worst situation in this regard.
According to scientists, the culprit is an unhealthy diet. The increase in life expectancy in Europe has practically stopped due to excess weight, alcoholism, and a sedentary lifestyle. This is the conclusion of British scientists who published their findings in the February issue of the Lancet journal.
The decades-long improvement in life expectancy in Europe stopped after 2011. The study was conducted in 20 countries.
Norway, which has a state-wide sugar-free policy, remained the only country where life expectancy increased until the pandemic.
The trend observed after 2011 is associated with an increase in mortality from cardiovascular diseases, which is caused by an unhealthy lifestyle: consumption of refined foods, lack of physical activity, and obesity.
The pandemic was a turning point for the countries where the study was conducted. It is noted that those countries that maintained life expectancy growth longer than others until 2020 have weathered the coronavirus better than others. These are the Scandinavian countries, Iceland and Belgium. Greece and Britain, on the contrary, showed the most serious decline: life expectancy there was reduced by about seven months.
