Imagine waking up with THAT in the morning. ~GAG
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.
I don't really care if you think I'm on the other side or not!
You consistently drive away anyone that doesn't agree entirely with YOUR premise.
You almost always claim that they must be on the "other side" because they DON'T agree entirely with YOUR premise.
At this point I don't really care whether you agree, disagree, or abstain entirely.
Infection may cause many things but you will NEVER get people to agree that it causes EVERYTHING.
So give it a rest and don't try to cut people down at the knees that are trying the best way they know how to turn the tide of an anti-smokers ocean.
If you want to HELP then tell the anti-smokers that we debate with constantly on this forum the things that you tell US.
Of course, then, the smoking couch potatos are, hence, doubly screwed...
Yours Truly runs half marathons in between cartons, however. HOOYAH!
Dude, if you can even SEE a premise in her posts, you are a better man than I...
Personally I think she's whacked. I haven't seen anything yet to convince me that the conclusions drawn above are totally bogus-- does she have inside info that we don't? Of COURSE lifestyle and health are VERY closely correlated. If I didn't run like I do, I'd be a hell of a lot sicker b@st@rd than I already am as far as respiratory infections, cardiac conditions, and whatnot.
Imagine waking up with THAT in the morning. ~GAG
That's right. Anyone that doesn't agree with you 100% is, "on the enemy's side.".
You do more bashing of the people that are trying to refute the anti-smoker than you do the anti-smokers themselves.
Just a hint, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.
Again, maybe you should be telling the anti-smokers instead of bashing the rest of us for not following your way 100%.
Maybe that's because you call us, "the enemy".
I would welcome your help, if only you would help by challenging the antis instead of us.
You seem like an intelligent well rounded person who would do wonders in some of the threads that get a heated response from the antis.
Well, with that reply you have just made up my mind.
YOU are my enemy. I have tried to be civil. I have told you that I don't believe that you are necessarily wrong. I have tried to have, in essence, a conversation with you and you have done nothing but berate and insult me and any friends that I have.
CarolASThompson - F**K YOU.
I'm tired of being nice.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.