Spanish researchers have developed a new food-based score that is strongly associated with long-term risk of overweight or obesity across adulthood, according to new research being presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Vienna, Austria.

The Dietary Obesity Prevention Score (DOPS), which uses measures of dietary intake that can be obtained by simple food-frequency questionnaires, could help individuals improve their eating habits and raise awareness of their dietary risks, as well as help doctors identify high-risk individuals to provide preventive counselling before the onset of overweight/obesity.

Worldwide, one in five deaths are due to poor diet. An unhealthy diet is closely linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and some cancers. For decades, countries have been wrestling with the same problem - how to make nutritional messages more effective and help people eat better.