Delivering Good Health Through Good Food

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> 15 Jul 2004 14:41:28 -0000

 

> Delivering Good Health Through Good Food

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> ISIS Press Release 15/07/04 Delivering Good Health

> Through

> Good Food Prof. Henry Becker on the critical changes

> needed

> to avert the national health crisis

>

> Like most Western countries, and increasingly the

> rest of

> the world, Canada faces a staggering, swelling

> burden of

> medical costs that challenge its ability to maintain

> the

> quality, comprehensiveness and universality of

> health care

> services. In April 1991, the federal government set

> up a

> Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada,

> headed by

> Roy J. Romanow. Its mandate was to review medicare,

> engage

> Canadians in a national dialogue on its future, and

> deliver

> recommendations for enhancing the system's quality

> and

> sustainability. The Final Report of the Commission,

> Building

> on Values: The Future of Health Care in Canada, was

> published in November 2002

> ( http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/english/care/romanow/ ).

> Unfortunately this otherwise laudable,

> public-spirited and

> thorough study falls far short of its stated goals.

>

> Not one title among the 40 discussion papers

> commissioned

> from scholars, policy analysts and experts across

> Canada and

> internationally mentions prevention.

>

> Although Romanow acknowledges in his preface to the

> report

> that, " it is common sense for our health care system

> to

> place a greater emphasis on preventing disease and

> on

> promoting healthy lifestyles " , only 7 out of 354

> pages deal

> with prevention, and the greater part of that on the

> evils

> of tobacco and on vaccinations.

>

> The report presents 47 recommendations, of which

> only three

> relate to prevention-one on reducing tobacco use and

>

> obesity, another on promoting physical activity, and

> the

> third on a national immunisation strategy. This

> projects and

> encourages, in my view, a most unfortunate skewing

> of

> priorities that is not in the public interest.

>

> The Canadian situation has much broader relevance,

> as the

> diseases of industrial civilisation have taken hold

> and

> health care systems are bending under the load

> nearly

> everywhere. Significantly, a United Nations study in

> 1999

> found the prevalence of overweight and obesity-a

> strong

> predictor of chronic ill health and shortened

> lifespan-to be

> increasing alarmingly in the developing countries as

> well as

> the developed, and particularly among children. A

> worldwide

> epidemic of obesity has been recognized, spread by

> globalisation and penetrating to the remotest

> corners of the

> world.

>

> The nature of the beast During the past century, the

> common

> afflictions in Western societies have dramatically

> shifted

> from infectious to degenerative diseases. Infectious

>

> diseases were subdued largely by public health

> measures:

> improvement in housing, provision of clean water and

> air,

> sanitary waste disposal, quarantine of the infected,

> etc.

> Rise in living standards and education also helped.

> Medical

> interventions such as vaccinations and increasingly

> potent

> drugs came relatively late, but in today's public

> imagination, they get the major credit for ridding

> us of

> infectious diseases.

>

> Infectious diseases typically strike in

> unpredictable waves,

> or epidemics. Degenerative diseases, however, have

> typically

> risen from small beginnings and grown nearly

> exponentially

> to a level where much of the population is

> chronically

> afflicted. Today these diseases are the major burden

> on our

> health care system, and their proliferation the main

> cause

> of spiralling costs.

>

> We are what we eat While some degenerative diseases

> have

> occurred in various societies throughout history,

> those

> which most vex us now, such as cardiovascular

> disease,

> inflammatory bowel disease, type II diabetes, asthma

> and

> many cancers, were rare or virtually unknown a mere

> 80 years

> ago. Cases of myocardial infarction (heart attack),

> for

> instance, began to appear in the 1920s and grew

> decade by

> decade to epidemic proportions. Most degenerative

> diseases

> are not caused by disease vectors such as

> micro-organisms or

> viruses. They are primarily due to 'lifestyle'

> factors of

> both the individual and various layers of society

> and, as

> such, are highly preventable. These factors include

> faulty

> food, dietary immoderation, abuse of harmful

> substances,

> physical inactivity, disturbed biorhythms,

> environmental

> deterioration, social breakdown and poverty.

>

> The most important determinant of health is food.

> Just as

> good nutrition is vital for a healthy immune system,

> faulty

> food is implicated in the infectious diseases. In

> his book

> The Wheel of Life, first published in 1938, G. T.

> Wrench

> observed, " The inescapable conclusion is that in a

> very

> large number of diseases faulty food is the primary

> cause.

> The suspicion is that faulty food is the primary

> cause of

> such an overwhelming mass of disease that it may

> prove to be

> simply the primary cause of disease [in general]. "

>

> Hippocrates taught, " Let thy food be thy medicine " .

> The

> corollary we must learn is, " Let not thy food be thy

>

> sickener! "

>

> Let's remember It's important to realise there were

> once

> whole populations-not just individuals here and

> there-

> flourishing in states of robust good health and

> virtual

> absence of disease. That is not a utopian myth, but

> well-

> established fact. The evidence is compelling that

> our

> hunter-gatherer paleolithic ancestors who subsisted

> mainly

> on animals supplemented with such wild plant foods

> as were

> available-tender leaves and stems, roots, fruits and

> nuts,

> but virtually no grains-typically had fine physiques

> and

> enjoyed remarkable freedom from degenerative

> disorders. Sea

> foods appeared to be particularly valuable, and

> there is a

> growing school that argues these were pivotal in the

> special

> development of the human brain.

>

> Since the Neolithic (agricultural) revolution 10 000

> years

> ago, many agricultural communities that maintained a

>

> sufficient animal component (fish, meat, milk,

> cheese) in

> their diets also achieved excellent health. Examples

> of

> healthy communities have extended into our own time,

> though

> in rapidly diminishing numbers. They have been

> scientifically observed and documented, most notably

> by

> Weston A. Price (Nutrition and Physical

> Degeneration, first

> published in 1939), Sir Robert McCarrison (Studies

> in

> Deficiency Diseases, 1921; Nutrition and national

> health, in

> J. Royal Soc. of Arts, 1936), and Viljhalmur

> Stefansson (The

> Fat of the Land, 1956; Food and food habits in

> Alaska and

> Northern Canada, in Human Nutrition, Historic and

> Scientific, 1958)

>

> These lessons of the past demonstrate what's

> possible for

> human health, and what can be achieved again. The

> foods

> eaten by healthy peoples of the past were perforce

> " organic " , as no others existed before modern

> industrialised

> agriculture. They were whole, fresh and completely

> natural.

> The genius of industrial civilisation has been to

> introduce

> a vast array of highly processed foodstuffs that are

>

> anything but whole, fresh or natural. Attention is

> paid to

> packaging, appearance, presentation, palatability,

> uniformity, convenience, transportability, shelf

> life and-it

> must be said-addictiveness, while almost wholly

> ignoring the

> crucial issues of nutritional value. A gigantic

> middleman-

> the processed food industry- now stands between the

> consumer

> and the primary producer (the farmers, ranchers,

> fishers,

> etc.) and profits richly from economic value added.

> The

> consumer buys these products, which are typically

> heavily

> promoted, and pays the predictable price of

> nutritional

> value subtracted, i.e., degenerative diseases.

>

> The growth of degenerative disease is an indubitable

>

> economic burden on society as a whole, but

> enterprising

> parties have skilfully exploited that as an

> opportunity for

> profit. This gave birth to the pharmaceutical

> industry,

> another mega enterprise of our times. The main

> effect of the

> industrialisation of medicine on degenerative

> diseases is

> palliative rather than curative, usually with many

> adverse

> side effects. As with processed foods, the

> manufacturers'

> interest is overwhelmingly the pursuit of profit.

>

> Finally, the " health care " system has come to rest

> on

> acceptance of degenerative diseases as inevitable

> features

> of life and the medical treatment of symptoms as the

> normal

> response to this grim reality. There is, to be sure,

> an

> ongoing quest for " cures " , e.g., the " war on

> cancer " , but

> what it mostly accomplishes is to produce ever more

> drugs

> that fall well short of the ever-receding goal of

> cure but

> succeed at return on investment.

>

> Physicians are indoctrinated in and co-opted into

> this

> defeatist paradigm by their basic training, and

> reinforced

> by their continuing education at the hands of the

> pharmaceutical companies. Thus, the people we should

> expect

> to tackle the plague of degenerative disease at its

> sources,

> instead act like firemen who have strategically

> decided not

> much can be done to stop fires from happening, so

> it's best

> to downplay prevention and concentrate on

> fire-fighting.

>

> Our 'lifestyle' failings So how did we get here?

> These are

> some in the long list of our 'lifestyle' failings:

>

> Excessive intake of carbohydrates, particularly

> those

> leading to high blood sugar (sugars, flour,

> potatoes, white

> rice, etc.). Excessive energy intake (too many

> calories),

> exacerbated by the trend to super-sizing of portions

> of fast

> foods, snack foods, soft drinks, etc. Consumption of

>

> partially hydrogenated fats and oils; consumption of

>

> overheated and rancid fats and oils; excessive

> intake of

> omega-6 fatty acids (a major component of many

> common

> vegetable oils, excepting flaxseed, olive and some

> nut

> oils). Consumption of most processed foods. The main

>

> ingredients of many include white flour and sugars,

> partially hydrogenated oils or fats, which are

> further

> compromised by the absence, loss or damage of vital

> nutrients, impaired digestibility, and incorporation

> of

> nutritionally questionable additives (fillers,

> extenders,

> thickeners, stabilisers, preservatives, flavourings,

> dyes,

> etc.). Most products offered by fast-food outlets

> rate in

> this category. Inadequate intake of omega-3 fatty

> acids

> (major components of flaxseed oil and of marine fats

> and

> oils). Inadequate total intake of high quality fat.

> Contrary

> to recent prevailing wisdom, this includes natural

> animal

> fats. Inadequate intake of high quality protein. A

> high

> carbohydrate, low-fat diet easily becomes a

> low-protein

> diet. Inadequate intake of water. Inadequate intakes

> of

> various minerals, vitamins and other micronutrients.

> Many

> whole foods today are very deficient relative to

> earlier

> examples, or compared to good organic products.

> Diets high

> in processed foods are particularly likely to be

> inadequate.

> Inadequate exposure to sunshine, leading, among

> other

> effects, to widespread vitamin D deficiency.

> Inadequate

> levels of physical activity. Inadequate rest and

> disturbed

> circadian rhythms, due to shift work, long work

> hours, too

> much noise, bad habits such as late-night TV, etc.

> Pollution

> of soil, water, air and food with agro-chemicals,

> industrial

> chemicals and various other noxious substances.

> Immoderate

> intake of alcohol, use of recreational drugs, etc.

> Hugely

> excessive use of pharmaceuticals-both

> over-the-counter and

> prescribed. Poverty, particularly when associated

> with

> highly uneven distribution of income, which is

> rapidly

> growing almost everywhere. Stress of unsatisfying

> work, or

> of unemployment. Breakdown of family and community

> life.

> What to do I shall limit myself here to addressing

> nutrition, the single biggest determinant of health.

>

> A paradigm change is needed in medicine

>

> " Orthodox " physicians have too long based their

> practice

> principally on knowing drugs. To prevent or

> effectively

> treat the degenerative diseases, they must know food

> and

> make it their primary instrument. These diseases are

> largely

> caused by faulty food, and cures-to the extent

> possible-

> depend largely on the prescription of the right

> food. The

> education of physicians has too long neglected

> nutrition.

> Physicians should, in fact, be thoroughly acquainted

> with

> all the lifestyle factors that promote health or

> precipitate

> disease. Although still a minority, a growing number

> of

> physicians are already committed to prevention and

> cure by

> lifestyle modification. Currently, their practice is

>

> commonly referred to as " alternative " , but it is

> time for

> them to become the main stream.

>

> Major changes needed in the field of applied

> nutrition and

> nutritional goals

>

> There are many things very wrong today in applied

> nutrition

> and the nutritional goals set for citizens by

> authorities

> such as Health Canada. Standards such as Canada's

> Food Rules

> and the USDA. Food Pyramid are badly skewed and need

> drastic

> revision. The obsession with the alleged dangers of

> dietary

> saturated fats and cholesterol is a proven but

> persistent

> and egregious folly. There's nothing wrong with

> sound

> natural fats. Nor is there anything wrong with beef

> and

> lamb, with all their fat, if the animals are

> healthily

> raised and not dosed with antibiotics and hormones.

> There

> are, though, truly bad fats that indeed do

> contribute to

> degenerative diseases: synthetic fats; partially

> hydrogenated fats; oxidised and rancid fats; and

> excesses of

> omega-6 fatty acids. Carbohydrates have been hugely

> over-

> promoted; the healthiest amount of sugar is none,

> and white

> flour products aren't much better. Processed foods

> should be

> revealed for what they are: mainly junk, dangerous

> to

> health, and never a fit substitute for whole,

> natural foods.

> Synthetic foods, such as soft drinks, are typically

> slow

> poison. I can hardly begin to list all the reforms

> desirable

> in nutritional teaching and consultation. It is

> essential to

> get the story right according the best knowledge of

> the

> facts, and to stay open to correction by new

> findings. It is

> also necessary to get the story out so the public is

> well

> informed, without kow-towing to industrial interests

>

> (processed foods, agrobusiness).

>

> Optimum nutrition must be our aim

>

> Optimum nutrition is especially crucial for good

> outcomes

> during conception, pregnancy, infancy and childhood,

> the

> whole process in which new humans are moulded for

> better or

> worse. Canada should be vigorous in providing

> parents with

> supportive information, programmes, resources and

> assistance. Lifelong good nutrition is the

> foundation of a

> healthy and happy old age. But even when many years

> have

> been lived in poor nutrition, appropriate changes in

> diet

> can still ameliorate much of the damage done and

> greatly

> diminish needs for medical treatment. The

> nutritional

> quality and adequacy of food served in homes for the

> aged

> should be a matter for public concern and government

>

> attention.

>

> Optimum nutrition is not uniquely defined, diversity

> and

> individuality must be respected

>

> Canada has citizens with ancestry in all regions of

> the

> world: central African and south Asian,

> Mediterranean, North

> European, and from recent hunter-gatherer to 10

> 000-year

> experience of agriculture. Thus there is a broad

> range of

> food tolerances and intolerances that should be

> taken into

> account rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all.

> The

> case of Canada's first nations is especially notable

> for

> suffering from the foods of industrial civilisation

> in high

> rates of type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease,

> etc.

> Generally, everyone is an individual with

> characteristics

> that may deviate substantially from the average and

> merit

> special attention. One of the jobs of the

> enlightened

> physician will be to discover those individual

> vulnerabilities and needs and help the patient make

> due

> adjustments.

>

> Public institutions must set an example

>

> Publicly funded hospitals and institutions of

> education, and

> cafeterias and restaurants in government buildings,

> should

> lead by behaving as models of excellence in the

> foods

> offered on their premises. Currently, a minority of

> schools,

> colleges and universities offer their students

> healthy food

> and drink. Many, however, have admitted fast food

> outlets to

> their halls, with monetary benefit to the

> institution but a

> great disbenefit for the health and food habits of

> students

> and staff. Utterly scandalous are the deals with

> cola

> companies.

>

> Huge reforms needed in agriculture and animal

> husbandry

>

> A return to wholly organic operation is needed to

> put an end

> to the incidental poisoning of land, water, air,

> people and

> most other life forms. Today's high-input " modern "

> agriculture is simply mining the land, sapping

> future

> productivity for the sake of temporary monetary

> gain. It's

> not sustainable. Further, the concentration of

> animal

> production on factory farms should be stopped and

> production

> redispersed over the land. Animals should be raised

> humanely

> and in such a way that they are naturally healthy.

> Grazing

> animals should be raised largely by grazing; it is

> part of

> what gives their meat and milk high quality. Much

> greater

> attention should be paid to raising the nutritional

> quality

> of farm, ranch and market garden products.

>

> Government must ensure quality in food supply

>

> Government should not hesitate to use its powers of

> regulation, inspection and stimulation to ensure

> high

> quality in the food supply. Programs to recognise

> and

> promote quality, such as is happening with Canadian

> wines

> and Québec cheeses, should be expanded to other

> products.

> Quality production should be encouraged. The

> nutritional

> implications of any food processing should be

> evaluated by

> competent agencies and adjustments required to

> ensure

> acceptable nutritional outcomes.

>

> National and provincial laboratories need to be

> reinvigorated

>

> They should be given a new mandate and funding to

> effectively serve the public interest with

> appropriate

> research in nutrition, testing of foods and drugs,

> etc.

> Their primary concern should be protecting and

> informing the

> public, rather than assisting industry and promoting

>

> business. The government should also fund a number

> of

> university research Chairs and/or Institutes

> specifically to

> work on questions of food and nutrition that are of

> significant national or local importance.

>

> Conclusion In order to deliver health, we must

> deliver good

> food through implementing sweeping changes in

> medical

> education and goals, food and agriculture and

> government

> policies. We may still need as many physicians, if

> they

> indeed become guardians of our health rather than

> managers

> of disease. Economies will result primarily from

> vastly

> reduced demands for diagnostics, hospital care and

> other

> patient services, and medical therapies

> (medications,

> radiotherapy, etc.). Sales of pharmaceuticals may

> plummet,

> but the sacrifice of this economic activity will be

> happily

> endured as part of the price of better health. The

> same may

> be said of major sectors of the processed food

> industry.

>

> The many people who regard degenerative disease as

> an

> inevitable feature of living are wrong. We've seen

> these

> diseases proliferating and appearing earlier and

> earlier in

> life, so young children are now succumbing to

> obesity, Type

> II diabetes and even cardiovascular disease.

> However, if the

> needed reforms are made, onset of such diseases can

> be

> retarded and relegated to extreme old age, and

> indeed most

> of these diseases need not be commonly experienced

> at all.

> The choice is ours.

>

> The author is Professor Emeritus of Chemical

> Engineering,

> Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. This paper is

> based on

> his submission to the Romanow Commission and a

> forthcoming

> book.

>

>

>

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