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Poor Lifestyle Choices Pave
the Way for Future Health Problems
Chronic
diseases are responsible for 60% of deaths and 70% of cardiac-related deaths
in the United States. Chronic disease also accounts for about 60% of all
medical care costs. The most common of these diseases include heart disease,
cancer, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes and lung disease. Because of the
enormous personal and economic toll that these conditions take, treatments
for chronic diseases are constantly being developed. However, efforts should
also be made to identify methods of chronic disease prevention since the
treatments for these conditions often have a limited benefit, especially in
their advanced stages.
What is Graves Disease?
The onset of these chronic conditions is linked to
genetics to a small
degree. However, the decisions that we take each day regarding
nutrition and
exercise, have the greatest impact on disease development. These
"lifestyle factors"
include smoking cigarettes, excessive alcohol consumption,
poor diet,
sedentary lifestyle and
obesity (1-4). Because we have a choice in whether
or not to adhere to these healthy lifestyle choices, risk of developing a
chronic disease can be altered. By making healthy lifestyle choices, death
from chronic disease can be avoided or at least delayed in some cases. The
lifestyle factors that influence risk of chronic disease death are detailed
below.
Cigarette Smoking
Cigarette smoking results in a host of harmful effects to the body. Tobacco
contains 19 different carcinogens and the smoke induces lung damage and
forces the heart to work harder than normal. Any use of tobacco increases
your risk of death from heart disease, cancer, or cerebrovascular disease.
Even past smokers are at a higher risk than those who have never smoked,
although current smokers are at the highest risk of dying from these
diseases.
Alcohol Consumption
Drinking alcohol in large quantities can have negative effects throughout
the body but primarily in the liver. The liver prefers fatty acids for
fuel.
When excess alcohol is consumed, the liver metabolizes the alcohol first
while the fatty acids build up. Chronic ingestion of alcohol leads to
accumulation of fatty acids resulting in a fatty liver. Interestingly,
alcohol consumption in any quantity is protective against death from heart
disease. However, 2 or more alcoholic drink per day increases risk of dying
from cancer.
Poor Diet
As expected, diet plays a major role in the prevention of death from chronic
disease. People with more nutritious diets are at lower risk for death. The
nutrition factors that play a protective role include
5 or more servings of vegetables
per day, 4 or more servings of fruits, 1 or more servings of
nuts,
predominant consumption of fish and poultry over
red meat, more than 15
grams of fiber each day, low trans fat and saturated fat consumption and
high polyunsaturated fat intake.
Obesity
As body fatness rises, so does the risk of
hypertension, cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, joint
problems, respiratory problems and cancer. Being
overweight, defined as a body mass index between 25 and 30, increases your
risk of death by 46% for heart disease and 14% for cancer.
Obesity has even
more serious consequences as the risk of death from heart disease triples.
Sedentary Lifestyle
Regular physical activity has numerous positive health effects including
helping to maintain a healthy weight, lowering cholesterol and
triglycerides, raising HDL cholesterol and stabilizing
blood sugar. There is
a direct relationship between the amount of time spent exercising and the
risk of developing a chronic disease; the more you exercise, the lower your
risk. People who are protected the most are those who
exercise over 5 hours
each week.
By modifying lifestyle attributes, the risk of death from chronic conditions
can be reduced. If you drink, keep alcohol consumption to no more than 2
drinks per day. If you don't
drink, don't start. Do
not smoke. Even if you are a past smoker, you should concentrate on
modifying other lifestyle activities, since you will remain at elevated
cancer risk. Diet, obesity, and
sedentary lifestyle are lifestyle habits
that are often linked. Body mass index should be kept between 18.5 and 25.
In order to achieve this BMI, greater activity levels combined with a
lower-calorie, nutritious diet is the ideal combination. The diet should
ideally include 5- 9 portions of fruits and vegetables each day.
Fatty foods
such as red meat, whole milk and
fried foods should be limited. Several
servings of oily fish such as tuna, salmon, or mackerel should be eaten each
week. If taking vitamin supplements avoid
synthetic vitamins and choose
whole food
vitamins instead.
Overall, chronic disease is largely influenced by the choices that we make
every day. Even with all of the recent advancements in
genetic research and
medical technology, it appears that diet and exercise remain the mainstays
of a long, healthy life.
Dr. Linda Kennedy MS SLP ND
References
1. Hu FB, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, Colditz G, Liu S, Solomon CG, et al. Diet,
lifestyle, and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in women. N Engl J Med
2001;345:790-7.
2. Stampfer MJ, Hu FB, Manson JE, Rimm EB, Willett WC. Primary prevention of
coronary heart disease in women through diet and lifestyle. N Engl J Med
2000;343:16-22.
3. Key TJ, Schatzkin A, Willett WC, Allen NE, Spencer EA, Travis RC. Diet,
nutrition and the prevention of cancer. Public Health Nutr 2004;7:187-200.
4. Knoops KT, de Groot LC, Kromhout D, Perrin AE, Moreiras-Varela O, Menotti
A, et al. Mediterranean diet, lifestyle factors, and 10-year mortality in
elderly European men and women: the HALE project. JAMA 2004;292:1433-9.
You must seek approval from your doctor
before starting any new diet.
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