The China Study Read Online Free PDF Page B

playing video games and using the computer, we are less physically
active.
    Both diabetes and obesity are merely symptoms of poor health in gen-
eral. They rarely exist in isolation of other diseases and often forecast
deeper, more serious health problems, such as heart disease, cancer and
stroke. Two of the most frightening statistics show that diabetes among
people in their thirties has increased 70% in less than ten years and the
percentage of obese people has nearly doubled in the past thirty years.
Such an incredibly fast increase in these "signal" diseases in America's
young to middle-age population forecasts a health care catastrophe in
the coming decades. It may become an unbearable burden on a health
system that is already strained in countless ways.
PROBLEMS WE FACE, SOLUTIONS WE NEED 15

     DIABETES STATISTICS
     Percent Increase in Incidence from 1990 to 19985 :
     • •
     Age 30-39 (70%) Age 40-49 (40%) Age 50-59 (31 %)

     Percent of Diabetics Who Aren't Aware of their IIIness5 : 34%

Diabetes Oukomes6 : Heart Disease and Stroke; Blindness; Kidney Disease;
     Nervous System Disorders; Dental Disease; limb Amputation

     Annual Economic Cost of Diabetes7 : $98 Billion

     But the most pervasive killer in our culture is not obesity, diabetes
or cancer. It is heart disease. Heart disease will kill one out of every
three Americans. According to the American Heart Association, over 60
million Americans currently suffer from some form of cardiovascular
disease, including high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. s Like
me, you undoubtedly have known someone who died of heart disease.
But since my own father died from a heart attack over thirty years ago,
a great amount of knowledge has been uncovered in understanding this
disease. The most dramatic recent finding is that heart disease can be
prevented and even reversed by a healthy diet. 9 , 10 People who cannot
perform the most basic physical activity because of severe angina can
find a new life simply by changing their diets, By embracing this revo-
l u t i o n a r y information, we could collectively defeat the most dangerous
disease in this country.

    OOPS ••• WE DIDN'T MEAN TO HAVE THAT HAPPENl
As increasing numbers of Americans fall victim to chronic diseases, we
hope that our hospitals and doctors will do all that they can to help us.
Unfortunately, both the newspapers and the courts are filled with stories
and cases that tell us that inadequate care has become the norm.
One of the most well regarded voices representing the medical
community, the Journal of the American Medical Association QAMA) ,
included a recent article by Barbara Starfield, M,D. , stating that physi-
cian error, medication error and adverse events from drugs or surgery
kill 225,400 people per year (Chart 1.5),u That makes our health care
system the third leading cause of death in the United States, behind only
cancer and heart disease (Chart 1.4) .12
THE (HINA STUDY
16

     CHART 1.4: LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH12

     of the Heart 710,760
Diseases
     553,091
Cancer (Malignant
     225,400
Medical Corell
     167,661
Stroke (Cerebrovascular Diseases)
     122,009
Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases
     97,900
Accidents
     69,301
Diabetes Mellitus
     65,313
Influenza and Pneumonia
     49,558
Alzheimer's Disease

     CHART 1.5: DEATH BY HEALTH CAREl I

     7,400
Medication Errors 13
     12,000
Unnecessary Surgeryl4
     20,000
Other Preventable Errors in Hospitals 11
     80,000
Hospital Borne Infections 11
     106,000
Adverse Drug Effects 15

The last and largest category of deaths in this group are the hospital-
ized patients who die from the "noxious, unintended and undesired ef-
fect of a drug,"15 which occurs at normal doses.1 6 Even with the use of
approved medicines and correct medication procedures, over one hun-
dred thousand people die every year from unintended reactions to the
"medicine" that is supposed to be reviving their health. 15 Incidentally, this
same report, which summarized and analyzed