… go figure
Sometimes you have to simply scratch your head and wonder wtf? The science has for years overwhelming described how our lifestyle choices impact our present and future health. Nearly all diseases – diabetes, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune, and of course the overriding ‘granddaddy’ condition obesity (which leads to those diseases) – are caused directly or indirectly by our lifestyle choices in general (sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet, and chronic stress).
But now – trumpets blast – we get articles like this ‘Doctors may soon be prescribing vegetables instead of drugs to prevent disease’ [source article here]. This research was focused not only on health outcomes, but their financial impact as well, particularly with regard to insurance costs.
The original article [PLOS medical journal article here], starts off with the statement ‘Little is known about health and economic impacts of incentivizing diet, a leading risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD), through Medicare and Medicaid.’, but then goes on to say why the study was undertaken:
‘In nearly all nations, healthcare spending continues to increase dramatically, with diet-related conditions being a major driver.’
‘Thus, the health impacts, costs, and cost-effectiveness of healthy food prescriptions in healthcare are not well established.’
Okay, so what is it? Little is known, or diet-related conditions are a significant causal agent for both disease and the costs associated with those diseases?
There are countless articles in scientific journals around the world that clearly and irrefutably (love that word) make the case that diet is one of the major contributing factors to the chronic disease crisis modern nations are facing worldwide. So it’s not a leap of faith or an unreasonable scientific extrapolation to ‘connect the dots’ – eating well prevents disease; preventing disease saves money.
Any questions?
Sadly, the medical or allopathic model for ‘health care’ (really sick care), is founded on the principle, the definition of medicine: the diagnosis and treatment of disease. So we’re going to give them, modern medicine, the benefit of the doubt because in truth, they don’t study health – sadly medical students are not taught the concepts of wellness and preventive health – they’re taught how to diagnose and treat disease, most often with drugs or surgery. They’re slowing coming around to grasp the reality of lifestyle choices and their affects on health outcomes; and the logical follow-up to that – correcting bad lifestyle choices will affect health outcomes.
What’s next – big pharma patenting broccoli?