Let's Stop Dying, OK?
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Toronto and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington have just published the most comprehensive study ever done about how diet, lifestyle and metabolic risk factors for chronic disease contribute to mortality in the U.S.
Want to know what they found?
Here are some of the highlights. Remember, these are the numbers of preventable-repeat preventable- deaths each year in the U.S. directly caused by the following individual risk factors.
Get ready to be stunned.
- Low intake of dietary poly-unsaturated fatty acids: 15,000 deaths
- Low intake of fruits and vegetables: 58,000 deaths
- Alcohol use: 64,000 deaths. (Note: because moderate drinking reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, alcohol use actually prevented 26,000 deaths, but these deaths were outweighed by the 90,000 alcohol-related deaths from traffic, violence, cancer and other diseases. Net loss, 64,000!)
- High intake of trans-fatty acids: 82,000
- Low intake of omega-3 fats: 84,000 (we'll be talking a lot more about this in the future!)
- High blood sugar: 190,000
- Sedentary lifestyle: 191,000
- Overweight/ obesity: 216,000
And the winner is...
Smoking: 467,000
These figures speak for themselves. I'm particularly stunned by the number of deaths specifically related to high blood sugar (!) and to lack of omega-3's, but all the numbers are sobering.
Now consider this: In another one of the largest ongoing studies of diet and health ever undertaken- the Nurses Health Study- it was found that five behaviors- five- could reduce the risk of heart disease by a whopping 83%. That percentage is higher than any drug has ever performed in the history of the world.
Ready for the five simple behaviors?
- maintain a healthy weight
- eat a Mediterranean diet (eat fish, omega-3's)
- exercise every day
- don't smoke
- drink alcohol in moderation (if you drink it at all)
These same five behaviors will keep an awful lot of people from being swallowed up by the "health care" system, which is- let's be honest- really "sickness care"
Five simple behaviors.
It sure beats becoming a statistic.
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Labels: alcohol, diet, insulin resistance, nutrition, obesity, omega-3, smoking, study
Jonny Bowden, PhD, C.N.S. is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health and is the author of several best-selling books.
A google news search for "university of Toronto" and "Institute for Health Metrics" doesn't get any hits. Hyperlink, please?
Johnny, good article. I'd be interested to know whether in the US they did a similar thing with alcohol as our version of a similar study in Australia. Alcohol here had a much higher death rate than the study reported but because of its 'good' effects on health the powers that be reduced its morbidity rate, in the detail of the report this fact was hidden away. Has the same thing happened in this study?
Interesting. I'm a little confused, though, over the statement that a LOW intake of poly-unsaturated fats is to blame for 15,000 deaths. I understood from what you (and other folks who also actually know what they are talking about)have said that these oils are actually not good for you. Where does the truth lie on this one?
Sure. Here you go:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2009-releases/smoking-high-blood-pressure-overweight-preventable-causes-death-us.html
warmly
jb
Hi Ned- simple to clear up.
The category of POLYUNSATURATED includes two families- omega 6 and omega 3's.
Omega 6's are inflammatory, omega-3's are anti-inflammatory. The imbalance (20:1 omega 6) is what's causing problems. But technically BOTH are polyunsaturated fats; you just have to know which family you're talking about. The info that says "polys" are "dangerous" is not exactly accurate- it's the overabundance of omega 6's (a poly) and an underconsumption of omega 3's (also a poly) that's the problem.
once you make the distinction between omega 6 and omega 3, there's really no contradiction
warmly
jb
Ah - it was published in April, several months ago. I thought it'd be in the news now because the first paragraph talked about the study being "just published".
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