Nutrition is the number one cause of disease, cardiologist says

BOSTON - What is the biggest risk factor for disease in this country? You may be surprised. It's not smoking.

According to a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Stephen Kopecky, it's not smoking and it's not your genetics, but your diet that plays the biggest role.

He says nutrition is now the number one cause of early death and early disease in this country and around the world. 

While your genetics can increase disease risk by 30% to 40%, he says a bad lifestyle can increase it by 300% to 400%. 

More than half of the calories we consume come from ultra-processed foods like fast food, sodas, and packaged snacks which contain added salts, sugars, and preservatives, which can trigger inflammation throughout the body including the heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain. 

But making even small changes to your diet, like replacing even a fraction of processed foods with whole foods like vegetables or legumes can lower your risk of disease over time. 

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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