Bloomberg has announced its 2019 rating of “the healthiest country in the world.” Here, Israel is in 10th place on the list, writes the Jerusalem Post, which is one place further down the list compared to last year, when Israel was in 9th place.

169 countries are on the list, which is based on the general health of the country, life expectancy, overweight and access to clean water and sanitation. Spain tops the list in 1st place and is thus the healthiest country in the world.

The list of the world’s 10 healthiest countries looks like this:
Spain
Italy
Iceland
japan
Switzerland
Sweden
Australia
Singapore
Norway
israel

Researchers believe that food and eating habits are some of the reasons why countries like Spain and Italy top the list. In both countries, the diet is mainly plant-based Mediterranean food with a lot of whole grains, legumes (eg peas, beans, lentils) and nuts. A lot of olive oil or rapeseed oil (contains many monounsaturated fats) is also used instead of butter and other animal fats (contains many saturated fats). In Israel, most Israelis eat a similar diet as in Spain and Italy

In comparison, Denmark is in 25th place, which is a small increase from a 28th place in 2018, but it is still not impressive.

So next time we go shopping we should maybe buy olive oil and lentils instead of a big steak and potatoes.

You can also read more about health here:

https://www.miff.no/helse/2015/11/26hvilkenmatvarevilokedittblodsukkernivasushielleriskrem.htm