On a daily basis we physicians deal with the many problems seen in
our health care system - long wait times, overflowing emergency rooms,
rising costs of prescription drugs - all related to the ever increasing
prevalence of chronic disease: obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease,
high blood pressure, arthritis, cancer (breast, colon, prostate),
osteoporosis and Alzheimer's disease to name some.
In rural China, South America and Africa all of these health
conditions are rare. Why is this? How can we have such high incidences of
all these conditions when we have a higher standard of living and a better
developed health care system?
The answer is of course diet. Here in the western world most of our
protein and fat comes from animal sources - meat, eggs and milk, while the
less developed countries eat diets based primarily on fruits, vegetables,
legumes and grains. Our diet is high in cholesterol - found only in animal
based foods, and refined sugars. Theirs is high in fiber - found only in
plant based foods, and natural sugars.
Yes, we do have pills and surgeries that help ameliorate many of
these conditions, but why undergo angioplasty or open heart surgery or
take a handful of daily pills when all of the above medical conditions
are preventable and many treatable just by changing our diets. If people
would move away from their meat, egg, dairy and refined sugar diets to a
whole food plant based diet they would live longer and live better - while
reducing health care visits and health care costs.
Such a change is not only good for humankind; it is good for the
planet. Dairy, fish and meat industries have many far reaching effects.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has expressed
great concern about the contribution of factory farming (cows, pigs, fowl,
fish) to such disparate issues as global warming, land and water
pollution, clear cutting of boreal forests, water shortages and the use of
agricultural and aquatic produce as animal and fish feed rather than food
for human consumption.
So, rather than just continuing to expand the early detection, early
intervention model of health care that we now utilize, a switch in
emphasis to a preventive modus operandi - actual promotion of a health
protecting diet - is preferable. Shifting dietary emphasis from animal to
plant based nutrition has the potential to exact wide reaching public
health and environmental benefits. Less obesity, less ischemic heart
disease, less cancer, less diabetes, less Alzheimer's ... Less air, water
and land pollution, less clear cutting of forests, more grains, corn and
water for human consumption ...
Rapid Response:
Food for thought ... and health
On a daily basis we physicians deal with the many problems seen in
our health care system - long wait times, overflowing emergency rooms,
rising costs of prescription drugs - all related to the ever increasing
prevalence of chronic disease: obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease,
high blood pressure, arthritis, cancer (breast, colon, prostate),
osteoporosis and Alzheimer's disease to name some.
In rural China, South America and Africa all of these health
conditions are rare. Why is this? How can we have such high incidences of
all these conditions when we have a higher standard of living and a better
developed health care system?
The answer is of course diet. Here in the western world most of our
protein and fat comes from animal sources - meat, eggs and milk, while the
less developed countries eat diets based primarily on fruits, vegetables,
legumes and grains. Our diet is high in cholesterol - found only in animal
based foods, and refined sugars. Theirs is high in fiber - found only in
plant based foods, and natural sugars.
Yes, we do have pills and surgeries that help ameliorate many of
these conditions, but why undergo angioplasty or open heart surgery or
take a handful of daily pills when all of the above medical conditions
are preventable and many treatable just by changing our diets. If people
would move away from their meat, egg, dairy and refined sugar diets to a
whole food plant based diet they would live longer and live better - while
reducing health care visits and health care costs.
Such a change is not only good for humankind; it is good for the
planet. Dairy, fish and meat industries have many far reaching effects.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has expressed
great concern about the contribution of factory farming (cows, pigs, fowl,
fish) to such disparate issues as global warming, land and water
pollution, clear cutting of boreal forests, water shortages and the use of
agricultural and aquatic produce as animal and fish feed rather than food
for human consumption.
So, rather than just continuing to expand the early detection, early
intervention model of health care that we now utilize, a switch in
emphasis to a preventive modus operandi - actual promotion of a health
protecting diet - is preferable. Shifting dietary emphasis from animal to
plant based nutrition has the potential to exact wide reaching public
health and environmental benefits. Less obesity, less ischemic heart
disease, less cancer, less diabetes, less Alzheimer's ... Less air, water
and land pollution, less clear cutting of forests, more grains, corn and
water for human consumption ...
Very ethical and economically sensible, eh?
Competing interests: No competing interests