et al

Summary

This study by Micha and colleagues, published in The Lancet Global Health, provides a systematic assessment of dietary quality across 187 countries between 1990 and 2010. Drawing on nationally representative dietary data, it quantifies population-level consumption of key healthy and unhealthy food groups, revealing persistent and widening disparities in diet quality across regions and income levels. The findings highlight that despite some improvements in certain food group intakes, global diets remained substantially misaligned with evidence-based dietary recommendations throughout the study period.

UK applicability

Although the study is global in scope, its findings are applicable to UK food and nutrition policy by contextualising domestic dietary trends within international benchmarks and supporting the case for population-level dietary interventions. The UK's diet quality metrics can be compared against global patterns to identify areas of relative strength or concern.

Key measures

Diet quality scores; dietary intake by food group (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages); trends over time 1990–2010; country- and region-level estimates

Outcomes reported

The study assessed and tracked changes in dietary quality across countries and regions over two decades, examining consumption patterns of healthy and unhealthy food groups. It likely reported population-level diet quality scores disaggregated by country, region, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.

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