These 10 eating habits are quietly stealing your life! Many people don’t know it yet

Does your day start like this: rushing out in the morning and grabbing a cookie for breakfast?

At noon, I rushed to eat a few mouthfuls of food and finished the battle in 5 minutes;

After working overtime late at night, have a heavy-tasting midnight snack...

These seemingly “modern standard” eating habits may be quietly stealing your life. According to data from The Lancet, more than 11 million people die each year worldwide due to poor diet [1].

Today we will take stock of 10 eating habits that shorten your life, and use scientific evidence to tell you: some "eating habits" may be more terrible than smoking!

1. Skipping breakfast

According to the "Survey Report on Breakfast Eating Status of Chinese Residents", 35% of the respondents cannot eat breakfast every day. Some people try to lose weight by skipping breakfast. In fact, skipping breakfast makes the body more interested in high-calorie foods at lunch, and the absorption rate will also increase, which is easy to turn into fat and store, which is not conducive to weight loss.

In addition to not helping with weight loss, skipping breakfast may also shorten your lifespan. According to a study published in the journal Food Function, participants who skipped breakfast had a higher risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, and cancer mortality compared to those who ate breakfast regularly [2] .

In addition, a 2023 study in the International Journal of Epidemiology found that people who eat breakfast after 9 a.m. have a 59% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who eat breakfast before 8 a.m. The best time to eat breakfast is between 7 and 8 a.m. [3 ]

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2. Eating too fast

A study published in Nature’s subsidiary journal Nutrition & Diabetes by Fudan University in 2024 found that people who ate less than 5 minutes per meal had an 81% increased risk of fatty liver disease. Eating too quickly delays the transmission of satiety signals, leading to excessive calorie intake and a significant increase in waist circumference and visceral fat area [4] .

Through a small-scale human experiment, Waseda University in Japan found that thorough chewing can increase diet-induced thermogenesis, promote energy expenditure, and slow blood sugar fluctuations, helping to prevent overweight and obesity[9].

The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents recommends that the eating time for breakfast should be 15 to 20 minutes, and the eating time for lunch and dinner should be 20 to 30 minutes [5] .

3. Eating dinner too late

A study published in the journal Nutrients in 2021 analyzed the dinner habits of more than 70,000 people aged 40 to 79 in Japan. The results showed that people who had irregular dinner times (especially those who had dinner times later than 8 o’clock or at irregular times) had a 44% increased risk of cerebral hemorrhage [6] .

Digestive function weakens at night, and calories are more likely to be converted into fat accumulation, leading to excessive visceral fat and obesity risk. Eating too late increases the burden on the digestive system and affects sleep quality. The Chinese Nutrition Society recommends that dinner should be between 6 and 8 p.m. [5 ]

4. Overeating

There are two types of binge eating: regular and intermittent.

Frequent overeating is mostly due to greed for food, eating shows or mental illness. This situation increases the risk of obesity and digestive tract diseases. Intermittent overeating may be caused by someone who eats vegetarian food during the week to lose weight and indulges in meals on weekends; some people eat very restrainedly to save money, but make up for themselves as soon as they have the chance.

However, overeating can stimulate excessive secretion of pancreatic juice, which can easily lead to acute pancreatitis. For example, during the holidays, the rate of outpatient pancreatitis visits is higher than usual.

Image source: Screenshot from a social platform

In addition, a study published in the journal Nature found that intermittent high-fat diets (such as weekend feasts) are more likely to accelerate atherosclerosis than continuous high-fat diets [7] .

5. Eating spoiled food

There are gaps between the cells of food. On the surface, it may appear that only a small piece is damaged, but in fact, mold, toxins, etc. have already penetrated into various places through the gaps, but have not yet manifested themselves.

Most of the harmful substances produced by spoilage (such as nitrites, aflatoxin, histamine, etc.) cannot be reduced by high-temperature cooking. For example, aflatoxin, the king of poisons, needs to be heated to above 280°C to begin to decompose, so general cooking methods cannot destroy its structure. The World Health Organization has clearly warned that aflatoxin is a Class 1 carcinogen and only 1 mg is enough to induce liver cancer [11] .

6. High-salt diet

When it comes to the harm of eating too much salt, the first thing that comes to mind is high blood pressure. In fact, the harm of too much salt is not limited to this. Stroke, which has the highest mortality rate in China, is related to a high-salt diet. In addition, too much salt will accelerate the loss of calcium in the body and increase the risk of osteoporosis.

Source: "Scientific Research Report on Chinese Residents' Dietary Guidelines (2021)"

The World Health Organization recommends that daily salt intake should be less than 5 grams. However, according to the “Scientific Research Report on the Chinese Dietary Guidelines (2021)”, the average intake per person in China is 9.3 grams, nearly double the limit[10].

In our daily diet, in addition to using less salt when cooking, we must also be careful of the invisible salt that is everywhere. Salty condiments such as oyster sauce, sauces, and chicken essence; various high-salt snacks such as plums and beef jerky; processed foods such as mustard tubers, pickled meat, and instant noodles are all high in salt. When purchasing, pay attention to the nutritional information table and choose the food with the lowest sodium content among similar foods.

7. Prefer hot food

Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer in the world, causing about 400,000 deaths each year. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) studied 1,400 cases of esophageal cancer and found that the risk of esophageal cancer increases with the temperature of food.

In 2016, IARC published a report that classified hot drinks above 65°C as Class 2A carcinogens . The report pointed out that drinking hot drinks above 65°C is positively correlated with the risk of esophageal cancer. The cause of cancer is that high temperature causes repeated damage to the esophageal mucosa. In the process of "damage-repair", inflammation is prone to develop into cancer. The normal temperature of the human mouth and esophagus is 36.5°C~37.2°C, and the temperature of food and drinks is best between 10°C and 40°C [11].

8. Addiction to sweet drinks

A study published in the European Journal of Public Health by a research team from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the number of deaths from excessive consumption of sugary drinks in 2019 increased by 95% compared to 30 years ago, reaching 46,600 [13].

A study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) by a team from West China Hospital showed that there are as many as 45 diseases caused by sugary drinks! Excessive consumption of sweetened drinks increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, endocrine problems, and multiple cancers. For example, the risk of breast cancer increases by 14% [12] .

What’s even more frightening is that sweets can activate the brain’s reward mechanism like drugs, making people more and more addicted the more they drink. The Chinese Nutrition Society recommends that adults should limit their daily intake of free sugar to less than 25 grams, which is equivalent to the sugar content of a bottle of low-sugar beverage[5].

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9. Love to eat pickled foods

The most commonly mentioned problem with pickled foods is nitrite. In fact, nitrite is not carcinogenic, but it is the nitrosamines that are converted when nitrite combines with amines in the body that are carcinogenic.

The research team of Zhejiang University recruited 440,000 middle-aged and elderly participants without major chronic diseases from 10 different regions between 2004 and 2008, and followed up for an average of 10 years. After analysis, it was found that frequent consumption of pickled vegetables was associated with an increased risk of death from hemorrhagic stroke and esophageal cancer.

Compared with those who do not eat pickled vegetables, people who frequently eat pickled vegetables (4 days or more per week) have a 15% higher risk of death from hemorrhagic stroke, a 13% higher risk of death from gastrointestinal cancer, and a significantly increased risk of death from esophageal cancer, at 45% higher[14]!

In addition to pickled vegetables, pickled meats also require caution. Pickled meat products such as sausages and bacon not only have high salt content, but also often contain nitrite in the ingredient list. Nitrite is a food additive. Unlike the naturally occurring nitrite in pickled vegetables, it is artificially added here to extend the shelf life and make the meat more rosy [18] .

10. Not eating enough staple food

In 2023, the internationally renowned journal Nutrients published a study by the Xiangya team, which analyzed the diet and serum Klotho levels of 10,669 middle-aged and elderly people aged 40 to 79 in the United States and found that when carbohydrates provided 48.92% to 56.20% of the total energy, the serum concentration of the longevity factor Klotho protein reached a high level. In particular, when the energy supply ratio reached 53.7%, the content was the highest [15].

Coincidentally, a study published in The Lancet in 2018 also found the same conclusion: if the proportion of carbohydrate energy in the diet is low, life expectancy will be reduced by four years [16] .

The latest version of the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents recommends consuming 200 to 300 grams of cereals per day, of which 50 to 150 grams should be whole grains and beans. In addition, there are 50 to 100 grams of potatoes[5]. Are you eating enough?

References

[1]GBD 2017 Diet Collaborators. Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet. 2019 May 11;393(10184):1958-1972. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30041-8. Epub 2019 Apr 4. Erratum in: Lancet. 2021 Jun 26;397(10293):2466. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01342-8. 30954305; PMCID: PMC6899507.

[2]Wang Y, Li F, Li X, Wu J, Chen 10.1039/d3fo05705d. PMID: 38738978.

[3]Palomar-Cros A, Srour B, Andreeva VA, Fezeu LK, Bellicha A, Kesse-Guyot E, Hercberg S, Romaguera D, Kogevinas M, Touvier M. Associations of meal timing, number of eating occasions and night-time fasting duration with incidence of type 2 diabetes in the NutriNet-Santé cohort. Int J Epidemiol. 2023 Oct 5;52(5):1486-1497. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyad081. PMID: 37328450.

[4]Zhang M, Sun X, Zhu X, Zheng L, Bi Y, Li Q, Sun L, Di F, Xu Y, Zhu D, Gao Y, Bao Y, Wang Y, He L, Fan C, Gao 14;14(1):61. doi: 10.1038/s41387-024-00326-x. PMID: 39143072; PMCID: PMC11324733.

[5] Chinese Nutrition Society. Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022 Edition). People’s Medical Publishing House, 2022.

[6]Tang J, Dong JY, Eshak ES, Cui R, Shirai K, Liu K, Sakaniwa R, Tamakoshi A, Iso H, On Behalf Of The Jacc Study Group. Supper Timing and Cardiovascular Mortality: The Japan Collaborative Cohort Study. Nutrients. 2021 Sep 27;13(10):3389. doi: 10.3390/nu13103389. PMID: 34684390; PMCID: PMC8541292.

[7]Lavillegrand JR, Al-Rifai R, Thietart S, Guyon T, Vandestienne M, Cohen R, Duval V, Zhong Tedgui A, Speck NA, Taleb S, Mhlanga MM, Schlitzer A, Riksen NP, Ait-Oufella H. Alternating high-fat diet enhances atherosclerosis by neutrophil reprogramming. Nature. 2024 Oct;634(8033):447-456. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07693-6. Epub 2024 Sep 4. PMID: 39232165.

[8]Lavillegrand JR, Al-Rifai R, Thietart S, Guyon T, Vandestienne M, Cohen R, Duval V, Zhong Tedgui A, Speck NA, Taleb S, Mhlanga MM, Schlitzer A, Riksen NP, Ait-Oufella H. Alternating high-fat diet enhances atherosclerosis by neutrophil reprogramming. Nature. 2024 Oct;634(8033):447-456. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07693-6. Epub 2024 Sep 4. PMID: 39232165.

[9]Hamada Y, Hayashi N. Chewing increases postprandial diet-induced thermogenesis. Sci Rep. 2021 Dec 9;11(1):23714. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-03109-x. Erratum in: Sci Rep. 2021 Dec 23;11(1):24483. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-04257-w. PMID: 34887466; PMCID: PMC8660770.

[10] Chinese Nutrition Society. Scientific Research Report on Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2021).

[11]International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). (2018, July). World Cancer Report: Global Cancer Burden Data [Press release]. Retrieved March 11, 2025, from https://www.iarc.who.int/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/pr244_E.pdf

[12] Huang, Yin, Zeyu Chen, Bo Chen, Jinze Li, Xiang Yuan, Jin Li, Wen Wang, Tingting Dai, Hong-ying Chen, Yan Wang, Ruyi Wang, Pu Wang, Jianbing Guo, Qiang Dong, Chengfei Liu, Qiang Wei, Dehong Cao and Liangren Liu. “Dietary sugar consumption and health: umbrella review.” The BMJ 381 (2023): n. pag.

[13]Yingying Jiang, Tingling Xu, Wenlan Dong, Cordia Chu, Maigeng Zhou, Study on the death and disease burden caused by high sugar-sweetened beverages intake in China from 1990 to 2019, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 32, Issue 5, October 2022, Pages 773–778, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckac067

[14]Zhuang P, Wu F, Liu X, Zhu F, Li Y, Jiao J, Zhang Y. Preserved vegetable consumption and its association with mortalit 37020268; PMCID: PMC10077626.

[15]Xiang L, Wu M, Wang Y, Liu S, Lin Q, Luo G, Xiao L. Inverse J-Shaped Relationship of Dietary Carbohydrate Intake with Serum Klotho in NHANES 2007-2016. Nutrients. 2023 Sep 13;15(18):3956. doi: 10.3390/nu15183956. PMID: 37764740; PMCID: PMC10537068.

[16]Seidelmann SB, Claggett B, Cheng S, Henglin M, Shah A, Steffen LM, Folsom AR, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Solomon SD. Dietary carbohydrate intake and mortality: a prospective cohort study and meta-analysis. Lancet Public Health. 2018 Sep;3(9):e419-e428. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(18)30135-X. Epub 2018 Aug 17. PMID: 30122560; PMCID: PMC6339822.

[17]Fadnes LT, Celis-Morales C, Økland JM, Parra-Soto S, Livingstone KM, Ho FK, Pell JP, Balakrishna R, Javadi Arjmand E, Johansson KA, Haaland ØA, Mathers JC. Life expectancy can increase by up to 10 years following sustained shifts towards healthier diets in the United Kingdom. Nat Food. 2023 Nov;4(11):961-965. doi: 10.1038/s43016-023-00868-w. Epub 2023 Nov 20. PMID: 37985698; PMCID: PMC10661734.

[18] GB 2760-2024 National Food Safety Standard Food Additives Usage Standard

Planning and production

Author: Li Chun, registered nutritionist

Review丨Zhang Yu, researcher/PhD, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, national health science expert

Planning丨Yinuo

Editor: Yinuo

Proofread by Xu Lai and Lin Lin