Posted on 09/03/2002 7:15:09 AM PDT by Just another Joe
Couch potato lifestyle is worse for your health than smoking
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor, in Berlin
(Filed: 03/09/2002)
Poor diet and lack of exercise cause more illness than smoking, new figures show.
The lifestyle of couch potatoes has overtaken smoking as the major cause of ill-health in EU countries for the first time, the World Health Organisation says.
Dr Aileen Robertson told the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting in Berlin yesterday that doctors and governments must take the issue of diet and exercise more seriously.
Telling people to eat more fruit and vegetables and to take exercise did not work if there were no policies to help people change, she said.
"I am not saying that smoking plays no part in ill-health. I am saying that diet is as important and we have to get that through because it is not understood at the moment."
Dr Robertson, a regional adviser for nutrition at the WHO in Copenhagen, said that Japan had the highest rates of smoking in the world but also the lowest rates of heart disease.
She criticised the EU for discouraging farmers from growing the healthiest food. Europe did not produce enough fruit and vegetables for everyone to eat five portions a day, as the WHO recommended.
"In Spain, Greece and Italy they grow a surplus of fruit and vegetables, but millions of tons are destroyed every year to maintain the market price.
"It is possible to produce enough fruit and vegetables for all of Europe to follow the recommendations by spreading the fresh food across the countries, but current policies do not support this."
The WHO study shows that smoking causes nine per cent of all chronic diseases in the EU, while physical inactivity and diet are responsible for 9.7 per cent.
The main conditions caused by bad diet are heart disease, followed by cancer.
"Around 30 to 40 per cent of cancer cases could be prevented through better diet," Dr Robertson said.
"Obesity in adults is up 20 to 30 per cent and is also escalating among children, increasing their future risk of cardiovascular disease."
Dr Robertson gave examples of programmes in Finland which had reduced heart disease by 65 per cent between 1972 and 1994.
They included paying farmers to switch from dairy to berry farming.
Councils were encouraged to include fruit and vegetables in employees' packed lunches.
There were also new food labelling projects and diet guidelines for all food provided in schools, hospitals and places of work.
Well, there's two ways they can go on this:
1) Forget that stuff about smoking. It's basically not that dangerous. Second-hand smoke especially. Feel free to indulge.
2) You must exercise! People who do not exercise will be taxed! Neighbors must report neighbors who do not exercise sufficiently! There will be no exceptions!
Mmmmmmm. Wonder which way it's gonna go...
I've been asking that question for some time now.
CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you
I would say that the "Department of Homeland Security" will pick #2.
BUMP
FMCDH
At least we'll be able to get that gun from you then... ;-)
Watch out for those twitches that come after death.
You know, the ones that cause the trigger finger to contract. ;^)
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