More Emphasis Needed on
Prevention to Defeat Chronic Disease

Hundreds of years from now, mankind may look back at today’s “modern medicine” and think: “How could they have been so primitive in ideology and so wrong? What lack of humanitarianism in government allowed the medical industries to kill people with economically driven false beliefs and ideas? Why didn’t government stop them? Who were the people in charge of protecting those citizens?

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people continue to die needlessly due to conflicts of interest, tainted research, greed for big bucks, pretentious doctors and scientists, lying, cheating, invasion by the morally bankrupt marketing automatons of the drug industry, derelict politicians and federal regulators - all seasoned with huge doses of self-importance and foul odor.

Today's society believes that health can be found in a pill. It's a sad reality isn't it? But we invest billions of dollars into drugs and research, and the decline in health is epidemically on the rise every year, with the return on this investment being profoundly poor. More and more people do not have the energy they need to get through the day while millions of others are suffering with painful crippling diseases because they have violated basic health principles.

Negative health and lifestyle choices are massive contributors to the proliferation of chronic disease due mostly to a general lack of knowledge. There is a desperate need for people to start making wiser and more responsible health and lifestyle decisions for themselves and their families. If lawmakers were to hold the public accountable for their own health, and use preventive education as a weapon against the war on chronic disease, they would inevitably propel human health way beyond its current limitations.

Preventable illness makes up approximately 80 percent of the burden of illness and accounts for eight of the nine leading categories of death. Cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes are examples of preventable yet leading causes of death in Canada and the U.S.

Obesity is one of the largest contributors to preventable illness and convincing evidence links it to six out of the nine leading categories of death. More than half of people (including children) in Canada and the U.S. are overweight or obese and have a least two risk factors for heart disease.

The limitation of current approaches to combat obesity may, in part, contribute to the problem. For example, school-based and community-based programs might not be particularly efficacious. Most dietary interventions focus on reduction of fat intake, even though dietary fat might not be an important cause of obesity. Very few studies have ever addressed the effect of dietary composition on bodyweight, physical activity, and behavioural modification techniques combined.

With respect to exercise and physical activity, many studies have used conventional programmed exercise prescriptions, although increasing lifestyle activity or reducing sedentary behaviours might be better for long-term weight control.

Physical education curriculums in schools designed to create exercise environments that only mesh with sport or competition have isolated several groups of children who are uncomfortable, uncoordinated or lack the athletic ability to enjoy these events. For many of these children, this reality becomes a conditioned reinforcer instilling a behavior which dissuades many of them from pursuing physical activity programs in their teens and then in adulthood.

Moreover, a plethora of school-based programs still emphasize non-locomotor and manipulative skills for physical education which are very poor indicators in maintaining human health. Motor skills such as speed, strength and power which are integrated with cardiovascular abilities have consistently shown to improve long-term health, yet an extremely large percentage of curriculums fail to properly address or incorporate these skills. Kids are just not getting the education and tools they need to sustain healthy, active lifestyles well into their teens.

Preventive education demands increased funding for research into new dietary, physical activity, behavioural, socioeconomic, environmental and medical approaches for the prevention of chronic disease. Children who grow into teenagers and then adults require more accountability for their own well-being through health conscious decisions which are motivated by proper practical and theoretical applications. Substantial political and financial contributions are also imperative to invest in prevention more effectively to regulate revisions and mandate policies which affect the governing bodies of health and education. Any procrastination or failure to resolve these matters in the next decade will only lead to the further deterioration of human health and healthcare systems. Proper leadership and effective communication regarding these preventive meausures may still reverse this trend and consequently promote a healthier aging population.

Further Readings
For in-depth information on the prevention of chronic disease, this
WHO release examines the interrelationship between diet, nutrition, physical activity and chronic disease.

Reference Source 3,52,61,96,116