A poor diet is the world’s deadliest health risk and kills more people than smoking, a study has found, according to Evening Standard.

Researchers in the US found eating unhealthily accounts for a fifth of all deaths, claiming more lives than smoking because of its links to heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

More than 130 scientists compared dietary habits to rate of death and disease in 195 countries and found that in 2017 poor diet was responsible for 11 million deaths – 22 per cent of the total recorded.

A breakdown of the analysis showed that low intake of whole grains and fruits, and high consumption of sodium – found in salt – accounted for more than half of diet-related deaths.

The rest were attributed to high consumption of red and processed meat, sugar-sweetened drinks, and other unhealthy foods including those containing trans-fatty acids.

The vast majority of diet-related deaths were due to heart disease, followed by cancers and Type 2 diabetes.

Poor diet also caused a huge burden of disability, the researchers reported in The Lancet journal.

Smoking tobacco was associated with eight million deaths.