Think What You Eat – Reverse Disease – LT

There is a long list of diseases on the rise in Sweden, such as many types of cancer. The incidence of osteoporosis/osteoporosis associated with bone fractures in Sweden is among the highest ever in the world. Over the past 50 years, obesity has been on the rise, along with its attendant risk of disease. Cases of various food allergies, type 2 diabetes, etc. have increased. Health and care are overburdened and may be financially stressful.

We cannot continue like this. We must reverse the increasing trend of the disease. By reversing this trend, much suffering from disease could be avoided. More people can stay at home and not be forced to move into care due to illness. The burden and costs of health care can be reduced.

There are many research studies that show a clear link between food choices, health and a lower risk of disease. For example, a large research study published in The BMJ, the British medical journal, which involved 105,159 participants, was followed over a period of 5.2 years.

The study shows that increasing the intake of ultra-processed products by ten percent increases cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks by twelve percent and stroke, etc. by eleven percent. There are food products that are ultra-processed in the factory and contain substances such as emulsifiers and preservatives that are numbered E. Read the table of contents carefully. researcher

Bernard Sorour writes in the study conclusions above that it is important to inform consumers about the relationship between ultra-processed products, health, and increased risk of chronic disease.

Physician and Assistant Professor Staffan Lindeberg conducted a research study on diet and health in Kitava, Papua New Guinea. The Kitava people ate an indigenous diet consisting of root vegetables, vegetables, fruits, berries, coconuts, and some meat. Staffan Lindberg found that the people of Kitava are healthy and do not suffer from Western diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, etc. In the book: Food and Folk Diseases–An Evolutionary Medical Perspective, Lindberg describes the study.

Among other things, physician and researcher Dean Ornish explained in his research that after only three months of changing the diet, it is possible to measure an improvement in health. Dietary choices are therefore of great fundamental importance for health and reducing the risk of disease. But long ago, most nutrition education was removed from medical education. Today’s doctors don’t have the educational background from medical school to answer their patients’ questions about how to change their diet to reduce their risk of disease and actually reverse its course. As a result, many researchers have suggested that Parliament and government reintroduce nutrition education into medical education. It is an important basis for reversing the disease.

It has been scientifically proven that alcohol and tobacco consumption increases the risk of disease, hence higher taxes. Implementing tax changes could incentivize reducing the proportion of ultra-processed products in the diet and favoring the consumption of healthy unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Countries such as France and Brazil have already taken steps in this direction.

Ingmar Ostlund

Public health sciences student