Lifestyle Diseases

Lifestyle disease, also referred to as diseases of longevity or diseases of civilization, are diseases that are seen more often in countries as their technology develops and lifespans increase-in short, lifestyle diseases are the diseases that are prevalent in industrialized societies such as the United States.

Lifestyle diseases are diseases that, for the most part, we can prevent or at least delay, through diet, lifestyle, and environment. What diseases are we talking about? Hypertension, arteriosclerosis, certain types of cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cirrhosis, obesity, and chronic renal failure.

The determination that industrialized life increases the cause the of these diseases rather than other factors has been based on studies of variation of cancer rates throughout the world and the death statistics for the United States.

In 1900, the top three causes of death in the U.S. Were from infectious diseases: pneumonia/influenza, tuberculosis, and diarrhea/enteritis. At that time, 60% of all deaths were attributed to infectious diseases. Heart disease was the 4^th leading cause of death; cancer was 8^th on the list.

From the 1940's to the late 1990's, most deaths were been caused by heart disease, cancer, and degenerative diseases (diabetes, cirrhosis, kidney failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and others). Since the late 1990's, 60% of all deaths were attributed to degenerative diseases. And nearly all degenerative diseases are on the list as lifestyle diseases.

While a good part of the reason that infectious diseases as cause of death decreased over the decades is due to the arrival of antibiotics which successfully treat the majority of infections, that is not the only factor for consideration.

As the study of the variation in cancer rates illustrates, the diet of the majority of American society which is high in animal products, dairy, sugars, and fats, along with the decrease in physical activity and the increase in obesity contributes to these lifestyle diseases. As compared with countries whose diet is mostly one or two staple starches and low in animal products and sugars, Americans and residents of other countries with lifestyles similar to Americans "enjoy" a much higher rate of colorectal cancer, breast, prostate, lung, and endometrial cancer.

What makes the results of this study even stronger is the correlation made that when people from countries less industrialized move to a country which is industrialized, the natives of the less industrialized countries begin to develop the cancers more prevalent in the list of lifestyle diseases.

I wonder if the true cause of these lifestyle diseases isn't denial--denial of the facts that we need to eat less, get regular physical activity, stop smoking, and drink alcohol in moderation. We've been told these simple things over and over again, and yet we procrastinate.

But we're only fooling ourselves. The onset of these lifestyle diseases sneaks up on people; the processes can take years and do so silently until one day-and then your life is changed forever. It is true we will all die of something, but do we really want to hurry the process along?