The Rise In The Rates Of Obesity, Autoimmune Diseases And Cancer – A Common Thread?
by George Faltaous, R.Ph.
Ulcerative colitis, Chrons disease, psoriasis, RA (rheumatoid arthritis), MS (multiple sclerosis), and Diabetes Type 1, are all autoimmune diseases where the body attacks its own cells. All these diseases are marked by super high inflammation and some erratic functioning on the immune system.
The rates of all these diseases are on the rise in the western world- just take a peek at the headlines below. Those headlines are from reputable sources and are purposefully as easy to find as googling the name of the disease followed by “on the rise”. You are encouraged to do the same and read the full text and context of all of everything referenced below.
Medical science and technology have shown an astonishing success in keeping us alive and in good health in the last three or four decades. But for all the autoimmune diseases the western medicine says: there is no cure. These chronic and painful diseases are typically managed by anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids or immuno-suppressive drugs.
CBS News reported the following in 2007.
(CBS) A new study released on Multiple Sclerosis - or MS - shows that the disease is affecting double the women it was 20 years ago. The ratio of women to men with MS has increased to 4 to 1. Researchers believe that more men now suffer from MS as well. Multiple sclerosis may be the quietest epidemic in the country. It’s on the rise, but it garners few headlines. One study showed that the incidence of MS increased sixfold In Switzerland between the 1920s and the 1980s, a rise paralleled in other countries. Today, an estimated 500,000 Americans suffer from MS - considered incurable - and perhaps as many as 2 million people suffer worldwide.
2010- (Reuters Health) - A study of Northern California children finds that diagnoses of the digestive disease ulcerative colitis increased nearly three-fold between 1996 and 2006 -- for reasons that are not yet clear.
June 2, 2010 — Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is on the rise among women after decades of decline,
The Arthritis Foundation’s online magazine –Arthritis Today reported in 2010:
Epidemiologists with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who are tracking trends in the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis, or RA, through the meticulously kept medical records of residents of Olmsted County, Minn., found that the incidence of the disease in women in the study population increased by nearly 50 percent from 1995 through 2004, while the incidence in men remained largely unchanged.
Diabetes type 1
“Diabetes”- a journal of the American Diabetes Association recently published an extensive article by Edwin A.M. Gale- Department of Diabetes and Metabolism, Division of Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K, titled
“The Rise of Childhood Type 1 Diabetes in the 20th Century” , documenting and examining same.
Why?
This begs the question that many alternative doctors have been asking: could this have to do with our lifestyle?
An increasing number of health care professionals, alternative and complimentary medicine researchers and advocates are pointing to three major factors:
• The increase in consumption of refined sugars.
• The increase in consumption of processed foods and pro-inflammatory fatty acids.
• The pervasive use of plastics, polymers and other chemicals in food and food products.
On the pages of this issue and futures ones, we will examine the suggested links between refined sugars, obesity, and inflammation and what to do about it all. The link between cancer, refined sugar and inflammation is extensively addressed in many books including Dr. David Servan-Schreiber international bestseller “Anti Cancer”, (p.67- 72). Editor’s note: Especially with cancer, it is better and far more advisable to examine such links and theories pros and cons in well researched and referenced books, not articles. We all need more context not less.
However, looking at these three above-mentioned factors, the point to make is one of hope not despair. There is plenty you can do.
Most important of which is getting informed and staying informed. You will find many publications –including this catalog- examining health trends and showcasing interesting studies but I will not invite you to take my word, rather to examine everything presented for yourself. You have all the information about everything published in the world at your fingertips: the internet.