Most of us here in New Zealand believe we live pretty healthy lifestyles. We have access to fresh food, the outdoors, and a well-functioning public health system.

Surprisingly, New Zealand isn't one of the healthiest countries in the world. Every year Bloomberg collates data from the United Nations, World Health Organization, and the World Bank, and in last year's report we only came in at number 15.

The Bloomberg report looks at health and risk factors of every nation in the world, from immunisations and the proportion of youths who smoke, to the number of people with high cholesterol and, naturally, life expectancy.

123RF Singapore's strict rules and regulations around hygiene are key to the nation topping the Bloomberg list.

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By these metrics, Singapore is on top, followed closely by Italy.

This report doesn't provide much insight as to why exactly Singapore is number one because each country's place on the list comes from points-based data, collected from many sources. Analysts, however, have suggested the nation's strict rules and regulations around hygiene have played a part in keeping Singapore's health factors high, and its risk factors low.

CHAD DIET 'HEALTHIEST'

Despite the well-rounded nature of the Bloomberg report with data from several reliable entities, there is some other research out there at odds with it. Namely, the African country of Chad – an extremely poor nation that is fourth from the bottom of the Bloomberg list – was recently reported to have the world's healthiest diet by The Lancet Global Health journal.

How can that be, you ask? I've done the digging. It appears the reason Chad came in first place because it has access to healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, whole grains, and fish, but almost no availability of unhealthy stuff like processed meat and sugary beverages, or foods containing trans fats or sodium.

This same study comes with bad news for New Zealand and other high-income Western nations. Our diets, while better than others when healthy items of food are assessed, are sabotaged by the volume of unhealthy foods we consume. That's right: New Zealand, alongside Australia, the UK, US, Canada, and much of Western Europe, has a worse overall diet simply because we have more access to processed, sugar-filled, salt-laden foods.

Because the average consumer can't do anything about health and hygiene rules and regulations which inevitably make for a healthier nation overall, it's perhaps best we look to the country second on the Bloomberg list – Italy – as a guide for healthy living.

MEDITERRANEAN DIET KEY

Italy comes close to the top in many lists of healthy countries because of many factors. The Mediterranean diet, which is big on seasonal eating, whole, locally-grown foods, and traditional, unprocessed food preparation methods, has been studied since the 1970s and today still remains one of the world's best diets for overall health.

Like in neighbouring Greece and Spain, the Mediterranean diet is ingrained in Italy's culture and it has been suggested by thousands of studies that it contributes to overall weight management, lower cardiovascular disease risk, a reversal of diabetes and improved life expectancy. Red meat, salt, and sugar seldom feature in this diet, and the fact that few items come out of a packet shows how the Italians one-up other Western nations that are heavily reliant on convenience foods.

Like New Zealand, Italy has a good healthcare system – 9.2 per cent of GDP (around $4800 per capita) is spent on health, and roughly 77 per cent of this is through public funding.

However, it's the way Italians live their life – and, particularly, the way they eat – where Kiwis can really learn something. Because it's in the Italian culture to sit down for three meals a day, they are far less likely to skip meals and mindlessly snack throughout the day instead.

Perhaps most importantly, the Italian ritual of dining together as a family is suggested to be a strong contributor in the reduction of stress in daily Italian life. Stress, as I've discussed regularly in this column, isn't just damaging to mental health but also everything from cardio to bowel and digestive health.

With our public healthcare system on a par with that of the Italians, aside from limiting our access to unhealthy, processed foods, maybe a big dose of "la famiglia" is just what we Kiwis need.

Lee Suckling has a master's degree specialising in personal-health reporting. Do you have a health topic you'd like Lee to investigate? Send us an email life.style@fairfaxmedia.co.nz with Dear Lee in the subject line.

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