You know, I was prepared for this to be batshit insane and full of conspiracy theories, but I can actually get on board with a lot of it. Not sure if that reflects well on me or not, haha. However, if you take a step back, the rates of childhood obesity, insulin resistance in adolescents, rising rates of dementia, rise in chronic diseases, and still lots of (preventable) deaths from ASCVD - something has clearly gone very wrong with the current system. So continuing with the status quo seems incredibly risky. We always talk about the risks of doing something drastic, but I would argue that weâve actually being making a LOT of drastic changes over the last few decades - most of it without really appreciating it. So Iâd say the risk of NOT acting right now is very high. If we continue this way, the Wall-E picture of humanity looks more realistic!
The report identifies ultra processed food as a major cause, which I believe is accurate. 70% of daily caloric intake coming from UPFs is wild. As we know, it âbreaksâ your normal appetite regulation mechanisms, tricks you into over-eating, and doesnât provide as many nutrients as whole foods. I think the report is very accurate in terms of the history of why UPFs were developed, and how the current system is broken.
It also identifies chronic stress, poor sleep, physical inactivity etc as causes of poor health - all of which are absolutely true IMO. For example, look at this UK study which showed 70% of school kids feel worse after using social media, and 50% wish they didnât even have Internet: Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet, UK study finds | Internet | The Guardian
As Jonathon Haidt points out in the Anxious Generation book, this is like an unprecedented social experiment which was carried out on us, without informed consent, in the name of tech company profits. Parents with full time jobs, parenting outsourced to devices, kids being indoors all the time, huge pressure from school and education. Itâs a re-wiring of childhood.
Iâm not an expert on the neurodevelopment stuff, but if the figure of 1/31 being autistic, 10% having ADHD is true, that is also a stunning statistic. 25% of girls having a major depressive episode in the past year is also shocking. Suicide ideation 30%. 73% reporting loneliness. 15% of young men with zero close friends. They are all rising, which again speaks to the massive risk of not taking drastic action IMO. What they write about corporate influence of childrenâs internet experience is also true - they get kids addicted and captured early, then theyâd sold on the UPFs and everything else in the name of profit.
If they can accomplish just this one thing below, it will be an incredible accomplishment:
- The American healthcare system thrives when disease is prevented and reversed, not justâmanagedâ in a sick-care system.
This is the Attia âmedicine 2.0â and âmedicine 3.0â mantra. There are so many low-hanging fruit. For example, most ASCVD is preventable, and we already have the means. If you take care of ASCVD, Iâd be wiling to bet that dementia and other causes of death would also lower.
Itâs going to require a total re-wiring of the system - from education, to the way research is funded and carried out, and also economic incentives for companies and citizens.
Regarding research, this part from the report is interesting:
A BMJ analysis found that industry spent over $60 billion on drug, biotechnology, and device research in nutrition science; by comparison, the government spends an estimated $1.5 billion on nutrition research. Concerningly, industry-funded nutrition research may bias conclusions in favor of sponsorsâ products.
So while I am baffled by this administration cutting funding all over the place, there does at least seem to be some sense of strategy here.
As for microplastics, PFOAs etc, I really donât know how much harm they cause. However, I am still kinda alarmed that not a single living organism, breast milk sample or placenta in the world doesnât have some level of these things. Again, that is because we allowed these corporations to contaminate everything - again, without our knowledge, informed consent. We became unwilling, unpaid, lab rats. In fact, we paid them!
The only conspiritard stuff I can find is about electromagnetic waves, but itâs very weakly worded. Vaccines just calls for more evidence. And what they write about âcaptureâ of medical journals and medical training by corporations is pretty damn accurate in my experience. Same for capture of news agencies. How can journalists criticise pharma companies when they are one of the biggest industries paying for advertising on the same outlets?
