Western Chronic Diseases Spread to the Rest of the World

Posted by: Curt | Under: General Fitness, Health, Travel/fit | (0) Comments

The rest of the world- especially developing countries have inherited all the western style diseases that they escaped from in the past. Typically, infectious diseases were the big killers in the developing world. But the World Health Organization has seen a rise in all the typical US type killers such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. As the rest of the world adopts a western lifestyle, they expect those numbers to rise. This is a classic case of prosperity killing us.

When I was in the Mayan region of Mexico a few years ago, I noticed that prepackaged junk food was very popular and that a lot of the people were overweight. These are people that still live in thatched roof huts but eat junk food in huge quantities. So we have exported our smoking and high calorie, high fat, high sugar lifestyle to the rest of the world and they are eating it up- and dying from it. Corporate America at its best:(

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 GENEVA – Chronic conditions such as heart disease and stroke, often associated with a Western lifestyle, have become the chief causes of death globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The shift from infectious diseases including tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria — traditionally the biggest killers — to noncommunicable diseases is set to continue to 2030, the U.N. agency said in a report.

…”As populations age in middle- and low-income countries over the next 25 years, the proportion of deaths due to noncommunicable diseases will rise significantly,” it said.

By 2030, deaths due to cancer, cardiovascular diseases and traffic accidents will together account for about 30 percent of all deaths, it said.

“Diabetes and asthma are on the rise everywhere. Even low-income countries are seeing shocking increases in obesity, especially in urban areas and often starting in childhood,” Chan said.   From MSNBC