Which country has the healthiest diet? Netherlands takes the number one spot – while the U.S. doesn’t even make the top 20

• The rankings are based on the food availability, affordability, quality, and the rate of diet-related illnesses in each country
• The Netherlands, France and Switzerland are the best places to eat
• Chad, Angola and Ethiopia are the worst countries to eat in
• The UK came 13th in the rankings, and the U.S. came 21st

The Netherlands was the best place to eat because the food is affordable and nutritionally diverse

By EMMA INNES

January 16, 2014, UK (Daily Mail) — The Netherlands is the best place in the world to eat, according to new research.

In contrast, people in Chad are the worst off when it comes to their food consumption.

The UK only made number 13 in the survey while the U.S. came in at 21 on the table of the best countries to eat in terms of nutritional value and availability.

The new report compiled by Oxfam saw researchers look at the food consumption in 125 countries.

The researchers considered whether people have enough to eat, whether people can afford to eat, whether the food available is of good quality and the extent of diet related diseases.

A table drawn up by Oxfam showed The Netherlands is the best place to eat while Chad is the worst. The U.S. didn’t make it into the top 20

The results showed that the Netherlands is the best place in the world to eat, followed by France and Switzerland.

The Netherlands took the top spot because it has comparatively low food prices, low diabetes levels and better nutritional diversity than its European rivals. 

Also in the top 12 were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg and Portugal.

However, these countries did not score well in all categories.

The Netherlands has high levels of obesity with almost one in five of its population with a body mass index of more than 30. The healthy level is 18 to 25.

Of the top rating countries, Australia has the highest obesity levels – 27 per cent of Australians are obese.

At the bottom of the table, Chad is shown to be the worst place to eat as the food is of little nutritional value, it is expensive and it prepared with limited access to hygienic conditions.

One in three children in Chad are also underweight.

Joining Chad at the bottom of the table are Ethiopia and Angola.

All but one of the top 10 worst countries in terms of food availability, affordability and quality, were in sub-Saharan Africa

The rest of the bottom 10 are made up of sub-Saharan African countries and Yemen.

In these countries, diets are dominated by nutrient-poor cereals, roots and root vegetables.

The research also revealed that the USA has the most affordable food in the world while Angola has the least affordable.

Quality of food is highest in Iceland and it is lowest in Madagascar.

The highest rate of diabetes is in Saudi Arabia and the country with the greatest obesity problem is Kuwait.

In contrast, there is very little obesity in Bangladesh, Nepal and Ethiopia.

The Oxfam report shows that malnutrition is most prevalent in Burundi where 67 per cent of people are undernourished and 35 per cent of children are underweight.

Yemen was the next worst for malnutrition followed by India and Madagascar.

In India, 44 per cent of children were found to be underweight – the highest rate in the world.

In contrast, in Saudi Arabia 18 per cent of people are diabetic and a third are obese.

Kuwait has the highest level of obesity – 42 per cent – and in the U.S. and Egypt a third of the populations are also obese.

Surprisingly, there are also high levels of obesity in some middle-income countries.

Fiji, Mexico and Venezuela are all among the worst 10.

The report does note, however, that the highest levels of obesity in the world are actually found in the Pacific Islands but that they were not included in the study.

The island of Nauru has the highest obesity rates in the world – 71 per cent of the population is obese.

Following the completion of the research, Oxfam has drawn up a list of things that need to be done to address some of the problems.

These include investing in small-holder agriculture, tackling climate change and better regulating food speculation to prevent high price rises.

Source: Daily Mail