Among high income countries the United States spends the most on health care and yet has the lowest life expectancy. A high percentage of Americans suffer with chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, mental disorders, and Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases. There are several reasons why people living in the wealthiest country have poor health all attributable to unrestrained capitalism.
First is the food industry with large-scale monoculture crops used to produce addictive ultraprocessed sugar-, salt- and fat-laden foods. Incessant advertising of these high-calorie foods and their widespread availability at low prices have propelled a transgenerational epidemic of obesity, diabetes and associated chronic brain disorders. Increasingly sedentary lifestyles exacerbate the problem.
Second is the pharmaceutical industry which profits most from chronic diseases that require continuous intake of drugs to manage symptoms.
Third is for-profit hospitals and clinics in which preventative medicine is lacking and patients are allowed to develop a disease and are then treated with a drug or surgical intervention. In my view this violates the Hippocratic oath “first do no harm” because by not practicing preventative medicine patients are harmed.
Finally, politicians capable of establishing laws and regulations that lessen or eliminate the ‘dark forces’ of the food, pharmaceutical, and health care industries largely ignore the problem. Why? Because they are lobbied by these industries which often donate money to their campaigns.
The ‘dark forces’ of capitalistic health care are not invincible. Following the lead of some Western European countries there are grass roots efforts in the United States to ban foods containing high amounts of fructose, salt, saturated fats, emulsifiers, and preservatives. Many individuals are eliminating ultraprocessed foods and adopting lifestyles that include regular exercise, intermittent fasting, and diets rich in vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats. As a neuroscientist and gerontologist at the forefront of research on the effects of intermittent fasting and exercise on the brain and body I am convinced that chronic diseases are preventable but only with concerted efforts of individuals, families, communities, and policy-makers.
(Image by freepik)
Former Chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the US National Institute on Aging.
Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University.