Iceland Win The Top Spot On Channel 4's Documentary ' The World's Best Diet'

Which Country Has The World's Best Diet?

If you want to live longer and feel healthier you might want to book a one way ticket to Iceland.

Last night Channel 4 documentary The World's Best Diet revealed Iceland as the healthiest nation thanks to their food combination of fresh fish, high quality meat and dairy products.

In the show presented by Jimmy Doherty and Kate Quilton, leading nutritionists ranked different country's and tribe's diets based on weekly shops and typical meals.

Thanks to its close proximity to the sea, traditional Icelandic dishes include things like saltfiskur (fish that has been dried and salted) and harðfiskur (like beef jerky, but made from fish), hákarl (shark) and skata (skate).

Smoked lamb, soft cheese and meat soup are also popular.

The nutritionists' league table was based on rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, life expectancy and diet-related cancers in each country.

Italy and Greece came in close second and third, showing a Mediterranean lifestyle may be the way forward.

1. Iceland

2. Italy

3. Greece

4. Seventh Day Adventists (form of Christianity)

5. Japan

6. Sweden, Norway, Denmark (joint)

7. The Kuna Indians (Panama)

8. France

9. Spain

10. The Netherlands

Presenters Jimmy Doherty and Kate Quilton

You may have noticed the UK failed to make the top 10 - England came out at number 34 whilst Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were even further behind at 35, 36 and 37.

At least we weren't last though, that spot was taken by the Marshall islands.

Before the second World War the Marshall Islands farmed their own food, but they've developed unhealthy habits thanks to their reliance on US exports, including eating high quantities of spam and tinned veg.

It's safe to say we'll be cooking more food from Iceland, Italy and Greece from now on!

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