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Lifestyle diseases are diseases that appear to become ever more widespread as countries become more industrialized.
Lifestyle diseases are different from other diseases because they are potentially preventable, and can be lowered
with changes in diet, lifestyle, and environment. The only subclass of lifestyle diseases that this web page is addressing
are those caused by lifestyle factors that can be lowered with changes in diet, lifestyle, and environment.
Highlights of Lifestyle Diseases:
- Until the present era, death was caused by sudden onset conditions. Sudden Onset conditions are easily curable
by Allopathic Medicine.
- Today, conditions that slowly develop over many years as we age cause more deaths. These insidious diseases
do NOT lend themselves to a quick fix by Allopathic Medicine.
Lifestyle diseases are a result of an inappropriate relationship of people with
their environment. The onset of these lifestyle diseases is insidious, they take years to develop, and once encountered
do not lend themselves easily to cure.
Do lifestyle diseases really exist? There are two basic lines of evidence that support the existence of lifestyle
diseases: (1)the international variation in cancer rates, and (2)Death statistics in the United States.
A recent research paper published in the prestigious Lancet beautifully articulated the international variation
in cancer rates argument that evidences the existence of lifestyle diseases.
"In many [western] countries, peoples' diet changed substantially in the second half of the twentieth
century, generally with increases in consumption of meat, dairy products, vegetable oils, fruit juice, and alcoholic
beverages, and decreases in consumption of starchy staple foods such as bread, potatoes, rice, and maize flour.
Other aspects of lifestyle also changed, notably, large reductions in physical activity and large increases in
the prevalence of obesity."[18]
"It was noted in the 1970s that people in many western countries had diets high in animal products,
fat, and sugar, and high rates of cancers of the colorectum, breast, prostate, endometrium, and lung; by contrast,
individuals in developing countries usually had diets that were based on one or two starchy staple foods, with
low intakes of animal products, fat, and sugar, and low rates of these cancers."[18]
"These observations suggest that the diets [or lifestyle] of different populations might partly determine
their rates of cancer, and the basis for this hypothesis was strengthened by results of studies showing that people
who migrate from one country to another generally acquire the cancer rates of the new host country, suggesting
that environmental [or lifestyle factors] rather than genetic factors are the key determinants of the international
variation in cancer rates."[18]
An analysis of the death statistics of the United States reveals some interesting facts that tend to support
the existence of lifestyle diseases.
In 1900, the top three causes of death in the United States were pneumonia / influenza, tuberculosis, and diarrhea/enteritis.[17]
Back then communicable diseases accounted for about 60 percent of all deaths.[17] In 1900, lifestyle diseases like heart disease and cancer
were ranked number #4 and #8 respectively.[17] Since the 1940's, most deaths in the United States have resulted
from heart disease, cancer, and other lifestyle diseases.[17] And, by the late 1990's, lifestyle diseases accounted
for more than 60 percent of all deaths.[17]
In 1900, these top three causes of death were from communicable diseases. Since the 1940's, most deaths have
come from a completely different category of disease called lifestyle diseases.[17] Until the present era, sudden onset caused death due to infections, malignancies,
injuries, poisonings, and war. The persons inflicted had no role to play in their occurrence. These Sudden Onset
conditions lend themselves to a quick fix curative effort.
Obviously, you have to die of something. Modern science through improved sanitation, vaccination, and antibiotics,
and medical attention has eliminated the threat of death from most infectious diseases. This means that death from
lifestyle diseases like heart disease and cancer are now the primary causes of death. The question now becomes a question of death at what
age. In eighteenth-century England, chimney sweeps died in great numbers from scrotal cancer that was then called
soot wart. Everybody naturally has to die of something, but lifestyle diseases take
people before their time. Too many people are dying relatively young from Heart Disease and Cancer and other lifestyle
diseases in modern times. The choice is yours: die young, now or at a ripe old age.
Death rate data yield some startling statistics. Death rates peak from Accidents at age 40, from Cancer at age
70, and from Heart Disease and Stroke at age 85. Congratulate yourself for being alive at each of these ages. They
represent milestones on the road to a long life.
For both men and women, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and cancer goes dramatically up between
the ages of 65 and 84. Yet once you reach the age of 85 the risk for dying from cancer does dramatically down for
both men and women. For men their risk for dying from cardiovascular disease falls dramatically after age 84. Nevertheless,
women maintain their high risk for from dying from cardiovascular disease.
Top 10 Lifestyle Diseases
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Name
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Comments
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| Alzheimer's Disease: a form of brain disease. |
No one knows the exact cause, but a real breakdown of the cells of the brain does occur. There is no treatment,
but good nutrition may slow the progress of this lifestyle disease, which lasts about seven years in most people
who have it. |
| Arteriosclerosis: A generic term for several diseases in which the arterial wall becomes thicken and loses
elasticity. Atherosclerosis is the most common and serious vascular disease. |
Plaques (atheromas) deposited in the walls of arteries are major causes of heart disease, chest pain (angina pectoris),
heart attacks, and other disorders of the circulation. In atherosclerosis yellowish plaques of cholesterol, fats,
and other remains are deposited in the walls of large and medium-sized arteries. Atherosclerosis usually occurs
with aging. It is linked to overweight, high blood pressure, and diabetes. |
| Cancer: diseases characterized by uncontrolled, abnormal growth of cells. |
Cancer has been the number two cause of death since 1938,[17] But, at the turn of the 20th century, it was only
#8.[17] Cancer is definitely considered the number one Disease of Civilization.
There are more than 150 different kinds of cancer and many different causes.
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Top 5 Cancers in USA[16]
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MEN
- Prostate (28%)
- Lung (17%)
- Colorectal (12%)
- Bladder (07%)
- Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (04%)
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WOMEN
- Breast (30%)
- Lung (13%)
- Colorectal (12%)
- Uterus (06%)
- Ovary (04%)
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| Chronic Liver Disease/Cirrhosis: any of a group of liver disorders. |
Characteristics of liver disease are jaundice, loss of appetite, liver enlargement, fluid accumulation, and impaired
consciousness. |
| Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): a disease characterized by slowly progressing, irreversible
airway obstruction. |
The symptoms are problems in breathing while exercising, difficulty in breathing in or out deeply, and sometimes
a long-term cough. The condition may result from chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, or chronic bronchiolitis.
Cigarette smoking and air pollution make it worse. |
| Diabetes: a disease affecting sugars used by the body. |
There are four main types of diabetes mellitus. Type I diabetes is also called insulin-dependent diabetes, juvenile-onset
diabetes, brittle diabetes, or ketosis-prone diabetes. Type II diabetes is also called non-insulin-dependent diabetes,
adult-onset diabetes, ketosis-resistant diabetes, or stable diabetes. Type II often develops in over weight adults.
Type III, or gestational diabetes, occurs in some women during pregnancy. Type IV includes other types of diabetes
are linked to disease of the pancreas, hormonal changes, side effects of drugs, or genetic defects. |
| Heart Disease: any of several abnormalities that affect the heart muscle or the blood vessels of the heart. |
Heart disease has been the number one cause of mortality and morbidity in most of the USA since 1910.[17] But,
at the turn of the 20th century, it was only #4.[17]
There are a couple dozen forms of this lifestyle disease. Heart disease and other forms of cardiovascular disease
can lead to congestive heart failure, a condition in which the heart cannot pump sufficient blood to meet the demands
of the body. The various forms of heart disease may also cause disturbances in normal heartbeat, called arrhythmia. |
| Nephritis/CRF: any disease of the kidney marked by swelling and abnormal function. |
Characteristics of kidney disease are bloody urine, persistent protein in urine, pus in urine, edema, difficult
urination, and pain in the back. |
| Stroke: a condition due to the lack of oxygen to the brain that may lead to reversible or irreversible paralysis. |
Stroke is linked to advanced age, high blood pressure, previous attacks of poor circulation, cigarette smoking,
heart disorders, embolism, family history of strokes, use of birth-control pills, diabetes mellitus, lack of exercise,
over weight, high cholesterol, and hyperlipidemia. |
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References
- Lichtenstein P, Holm NV, Verkasalo PK. Environmental and Heritable Factors in the Causation of Cancer. N Engl
J Med 2000 Jul 13;343(2):78-85. PMID: 10891514
- Sobra J; Ceska R. [Diseases of civilization from the aspect of evolution of the human diet]. Cas Lek Cesk,
1992 Apr, 131:7, 193-7. PMID: 1638605
- Zöllner N. [The relevance of diet for civilization diseases, especially atherosclerosis]. Wien Med Wochenschr
Suppl, 1990, 106:, suppl 11-2. PMID: 2219947
- Roelcke V. [Between individual therapy and political intervention: campaigns against "diseases of civilization"
between 1920 and 1960]. Gesundheitswesen, 1995 Aug, 57:8-9, 443-51. PMID: 7496099
- Burkitt DP. Western diseases and their emergence related to diet. S Afr Med J, 1982 Jun, 61:26, 1013-5. PMID:
6283683
- Painter NS. Diverticular disease of the colon. The first of the Western diseases shown to be due to a deficiency
of dietary fibre. S Afr Med J, 1982 Jun, 61:26, 1016-20. PMID: 6283684
- Forrester T; Cooper RS; Weatherall D. Emergence of Western diseases in the tropical world: the experience with
chronic cardiovascular diseases. Br Med Bull, 1998, 54:2, 463-73. PMID: 9830210
- Adlercreutz H. Western diet and Western diseases: some hormonal and biochemical mechanisms and associations.
Scand J Clin Lab Invest Suppl, 1990, 201:, 3-23. PMID: 2173856
- Adlercreutz H; Mazur W. Phyto-oestrogens and Western diseases. Ann Med, 1997 Apr, 29:2, 95-120. PMID: 9187225
- Meng L; Maskarinec G; Lee J. Lifestyle factors and chronic diseases: application of a composite risk index.
Prev Med, 1999 Oct, 29:4, 296-304. PMID: 10547055
- Steyn K; Fourie J; Bradshaw D. The impact of chronic diseases of lifestyle and their major risk factors on
mortality in South Africa. S Afr Med J, 1992 Oct, 82:4, 227-31. PMID: 1411817
- Steyn K; Kazenellenbogen JM; Lombard CJ. Urbanization and the risk for chronic diseases of lifestyle in the
black population of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. J Cardiovasc Risk, 1997 Apr, 4:2, 135-42. PMID: 9304495
- Chronic Disease and their Risk
Factors: The USA's Leading Causes of Death
- AHA: Leading Causes of
Death
- Leading Causes of Death Reports
- NAACCR (North American Association of Central
Cancer Registries, Inc.) Top Five Most Commonly Diagnosed Cancers, 1994-1998
- National Center for Health Statistics, National Office of Vital Statistics, 1947
for the year 1900 (page 67), for
the year 1938 (page 55).
- Key TJ, Allen NE, Spencer EA. The effect of diet on risk of cancer. Lancet. 2002 Sep 14;360(9336):861-8. Review.
PMID: 12243933
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Web Site News: This web site participated in a GNU Free Documentation project by contributing some selective material in order to create an
information source on natural health,
natural therapy, and lifestyle
diseases in an encyclopedia format that is freely available. In addition, we participated in creating an orange colored infobox that both organized and classified a
large number of encyclopedic articles on alternative medicine. Our project was successful as it got this selective
material out on the Internet both at the original site as well as on a number of mirror sites. As time passes,
our project will become even more successful as more mirror sites are created.
There is a big difference between the above original article and these encyclopedic articles. The above original
article makes a health claim, whereas these encyclopedic articles do not.
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