The evidence is now stronger than ever. What you eat and how much you exercise directly affects your long-term health.

An Unhealthy Environment
Eating healthily and being active is all very well. But often the environment in which you live doesn't make it easy to make healthy lifestyle choices. We live in is sometimes called an 'obesogenic environment'. This includes: a home and school life that doesn't promote healthy food and activity choices for children; heavy marketing of fast food outlets and unhealthy foods; and also food industry use of television to market unhealthy products to young children who can't tell the difference between programmes and adverts.

So effectively promoting a healthy lifestyle is more complicated than just telling people what to eat and how much exercise to take.

Prevent this, reduce the risk of that. When it comes to dodging major diseases such as obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer, there is a frightening amount of information to choose from.

But what exactly should you eat or avoid? And how active do you need to be to remain healthy?

A Statistical Nightmare
Around 60 per cent of the world's annual 55 millions reported deaths are caused by 'non-communicable chronic diseases' - those that can't be passed between people by infection.

Nearly half these deaths are attributable to cardiovascular diseases (CVD). But obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer are also of enormous concern.

In the UK , around 59 per cent of women and 68 per cent of men are overweight or obese. Perhaps more worrying is that one in five children under four is overweight, and one in ten is obese. Obesity can induce the development of type 2 diabetes, and increases the risk of CVD, some cancers, and dying prematurely.

But you can take steps to reduce your risk of these diseases by changing your diet and doing more exercise.

Preventing Disease
Six diseases: obesity, diabetes, CVD, cancer, osteoporosis and dental diseases are the non-communicable chronic diseases which present the greatest public health burden.

Obesity is a condition that needs to be checked throughout life - from birth onwards. On average, being obese shortens your life by nine years.

Adults should aim to keep their body mass index (BMI) in the range 20 to 25 kg/m2. BMI is your weight in kilograms divided by your height in metres, squared.

Alternatively, the circumference of your waist is increasingly being accepted as a standard measure. Women with a waist circumference of at least 88cm, and men with one of at least 102cm, are more at risk of obesity-related diseases.

How to decrease your risk

• Take regular physical activity - a total of 60 minutes of moderate to intense activity on most days of the week: See our related Fitness article.
• Eat lots of fibre-containing foods such as fruits and vegetables, and wholegrain cereals, pasta and rice: See our related Diets and Nutrition article.

What will increase your risk

• Having a sedentary lifestyle
• Eating lots of energy-dense (high fat and sugar) and micronutrient-poor (containing only low levels of vitamins and minerals) foods such as crisps and chocolate.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) include coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, and also high blood pressure which can contribute to the risk of these diseases. A healthy balanced diet is key.

How to decrease your risk

• Take regular physical activity
• Include linoleic acid in your diet (this is found in corn, safflower, sunflower, soya bean and rapeseed oils and spreads).
• Eat oily fish such as trout, mackerel or salmon once a week
• Eat lots of fruits and vegetables
• Get enough potassium - this lowers blood pressure. If you are eating enough fruit and vegetables you're likely to be getting all the potassium you need
• If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For certain groups of people, drinking a small amount of alcohol (one to two units a day) can reduce the risk of CHD. One unit is a half pint of ordinary strength beer or cider, a small glass of wine, or a pub measure of spirits. This especially applies to men over 40 and postmenopausal women.

What will increase your risk

• A high intake of saturated fats - especially myristic acid and palmitic acid. Myristic acid is found in butter and coconut oil, while palmitic acid is found in meat
• A diet high in trans fats
• Eating too much salt
• Being overweight
• Having too much alcohol.

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis affects one in three women and one in 12 men over the age of 50 in the UK . The National Osteoporosis Society estimates that the condition costs the NHS and government £5 million a day.

Osteoporosis - low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue - makes bones fragile increasing the risk of breaks. It is a major cause of disability in older people, and hip fractures can lead to premature death.

How to decrease your risk:

• If you're over 50, with a low calcium intake and poor stores of vitamin D in your body, it's important that you get enough of these nutrients. Adults need 700mg of calcium a day, but you shouldn't have more than 1,500mg daily. Dairy products and green leafy vegetables are a good source
• Take regular physical activity - this should include exercise that maintains or increases muscle strength, coordination and balance. Skipping, running or aerobics are good ways to reduce your risk of getting osteoporosis. But gentle aerobic exercise and weight-bearing exercise are more appropriate if you already have osteoporosis

What will increase your risk

• A high alcohol intake
• Low body weight (a BMI below 18.5 kg/m2).

Dental diseases

Dental disease is usually not a cause of death, but in industrialised countries treating it exceeds the cost of treating CVD, cancer and osteoporosis.

How to decrease your risk

• Tooth decay - have sufficient fluoride in your diet (tap water is fluoridated in some areas) and use a fluoride toothpaste
• Defects in the development of tooth enamel - get enough vitamin D. Vitamin D is produced by the action of sunlight on your skin, so if your exposure to sunlight is low it's important to eat foods containing this vitamin. These include oily fish, liver, dairy products and egg yolk
• Periodontal (gum) disease - have good oral hygiene. This means brushing properly twice a day and flossing daily.

What will increase your risk

• Tooth decay - free sugar in your diet, and eating sugary foods too frequently. Limit these to a maximum of 40 to 55g per day, and don't have foods and drinks containing free sugars more than four times a day
• Defects in the development of enamel - too much fluoride
• Periodontal (gum) disease - not enough vitamin C in your diet. Fruits and vegetables are a good source, or you can take supplements if you feel you need them. Adults need 40mg a day, but supplements of more than 1,000mg a day can cause stomach pain, diarrhoea and flatulence.

Cancer
One in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer and it will kill one in four. Your personal risk depends on your genetic makeup, the environment you live in, your diet and lifestyle. The most important, known cause of cancer is tobacco. But it's thought that diet is the second most important factor, accounting for around a third of cancers in industrialised countries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends general advice to reduce the risks:

• Keep your BMI in check
• Avoid gaining a lot of weight (more than 5kg) during your adult life
• Take regular physical activity
• Don't drink more than two units of alcohol a day
• Eat only moderate amounts of salt and salt-preserved foods such as some cured meats and fish
• Minimise your exposure to aflatoxin (a mould that grows on nuts, dried foods, cereals and spices). Food law means you shouldn't normally be exposed to harmful levels. But throw away these foods once they've reached their best before date
• Eat at least 400g (five portions) of fruits and vegetables a day
• Eat only moderate amounts of preserved meat such as salami, bacon and ham
• Don't have food and drink when it is at a very high temperature.

Evidence for specific cancers:
How to decrease your risk

• Be physically active - evidence is 'convincing' for colon cancer, and 'probable' for breast cancer
• Eat more fruit and veg - evidence is probable for cancers of the oral cavity, oesophagus, and stomach.

What will increase your risk

• Being overweight or obese - evidence is convincing for cancers of the oesophagus, breast (in postmenopausal women), endometrium, and kidney
• Alcohol - convincing evidence for cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, liver and breast
• Aflatoxin - evidence is convincing for cancer of the liver
• Chinese-style salted fish - evidence is convincing for cancer of the nasopharynx
• Preserved meat - evidence is probable for colorectal cancer
• Salt-preserved food and salt - probable evidence for stomach cancer
• Very hot (in temperature) food and drink - evidence is 'probable' for cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx and oesophagus.

Diabetes

Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes - is associated with being obese. So it follows that diets and lifestyles which prevent obesity also help to prevent diabetes.

How to decrease your risk

• Try to lose some weight if you're overweight or obese
• Be physically active.

What will increase your risk

• Being overweight or obese, especially if you carry most of your fat around your middle
• Being physically inactive
• Maternal diabetes: if your mother had diabetes in pregnancy - including gestational diabetes, a complication of pregnancy - you are more at risk of type 2 diabetes.

Physical activity

Until now it has been widely accepted that a daily minimum of 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise is enough to reduce the risk of CVD, diabetes, colon and breast cancer. But the WHO report recommends more than this to prevent obesity. It suggests 60 minutes a day of moderate to intense activity - which should leave you feeling warm and breathing more heavily.

This goal is for people who spend almost all of their time inactive - for instance sitting at a desk by day and in front of the television all evening. Fortunately, activities such as housework and walking, if done energetically enough, can count. So you may not need to drastically increase your activity levels - but aim for a daily 30 minutes as a minimum with a target of 60 minutes. Of course, if you're not used to regular exercise, always check with your GP before you start.

To help you carry on with your research for health information and health products, we have selected websites that specialise in health information, supplements and other products and propose frequent offers and promotions. Click on the links of your choice on the right hand side of the screen and you will find a wide range of health products available online.

Good luck with your health products online shopping. And do not forget to exercise every day,

© Before-buying.co.uk 2006