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Unhealthy habits, such as smoking and physical inactivity, contribute to about half the deaths in Canada every year and reduce life expectancy by six years, according to a new study led by an Ottawa scientist.

The research, which measures the health burden of unhealthy behaviours, was published in the journal PLOS Medicine on Tuesday.

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“Unhealthy behaviours place a major burden on Canadian life expectancies,” said Dr. Doug Manuel, senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa. “This study identified which behaviours pose the biggest threat.”

Those unhealthy behaviours — in order of the harm they do to a person’s health — are smoking, physical inactivity, poor diet and unhealthy alcohol consumption. The study found 26 per cent of all deaths in Canada between 2009 and 2010 were attributable to smoking, 24 per cent were attributable to inactivity, 12 per cent were attributable to a poor diet and 0.4 per cent were attributable to unhealthy alcohol consumption.