“You are what you eat. What would YOU like to be?” – Julie Murphy"
Chronic Diseases
The Leading Causes of Death and Disability in Nigeria
Chronic diseases are conditions – such as heart
disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and arthritis – are among the most common, costly, and preventable of all health problems.
As of 2012, about half of all adults – 117 million people – had one or more chronic health conditions. One of four adults had two or more chronic health conditions.
Seven of the top 10 causes of death in 2010 were chronic diseases. Two of these chronic diseases – heart disease and cancer – together accounted for nearly 48% of all deaths.
Obesity is a serious health concern. During 2009 – 2010, more than one-third of adults, or about 78 million people, were obese (defined as body mass index [BMI] 30 kg/m2). Nearly one of five youths aged 2-19 years was obsess (BMI95th percentile).
Arthritis is the most common cause of disability of the 53 million adults with a doctor diagnosis of arthritis, more than 22 million say they have trouble with their usual activities because of arthritis.
Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, lower-limb amputations other than those caused by injury, and new cases of blindness among adults.
Health Risk Behaviours that Cause Chronic Diseases.
Health risk behaviours are unhealthy behaviours you can change. Four of these health risk behaviours – lack of exercise or physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and drinking too much alcohol – cause much of the illness suffering, and early death related to chronic diseases and conditions.
In 2011, more than half (52%) of adults aged 18 years or order did not meet recommendations for aerobic exercise or physical activity. In addition, 76% did not meet recommendations for muscle-strengthening physical activity.
About half of US adults (47%) have at least one of the following major risk factors for heart disease or stroke: uncontrolled high blood pressure, uncontrolled high LDL cholesterol, or are current smokers. Ninety percent of Americans consume too much sodium, increasing their risk of high blood pressure.
In 2011, more than one-third (36%) of adolescent and 38% of adults said they ate fruit less than once a day, while 38% of adolescents and 23% of adults said they ate vegetables less than once a day.
More than 42 million adults – close to 1 of every 5 – said they currently smoked cigarettes in 2012, Cigarette smoking accounts for more than 480,000 deaths each year. Each day, more than 3,200 youth younger than 18 years smoke their first cigarette, and another 2,100 youth and young adults who smoke every now and then become daily smokers.
Drinking too much alcohol is responsible for 88,000 deaths each year, more than half of which are due to binge drinking. About 38 million adults report binge drinking an average of 4 times a month, and have an average of 8 drinks per binge, yet most binge drinkers are not alcohol dependent.
Excellent Reasons To Take Nutritional Supplements
Soil depletion reduces the nutrient content of crops
In many areas of the world, land has been intensively farmed without allowing nutrients to naturally replenish in the soil. Some areas with low quality soil are also being farmed where plants might not have normally grown well too.
Hybrid crops can provide lower nutrient food.
Hybrid crops are often used, even on organic farms. They yield more food per acre, but the crops often have much lower nutrient content.
Modern fertilizers don’t supply enough trace elements
Back in the day, manures were used extensively for fertilizer. Today, superphosphate fertilizers have largely replaced manure. These contain nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, but are deficient in many other nutrients naturally contained in manure.
Pesticides and herbicides damage soil microorganisms and reduce the nutrition of the crops
Soil microorganisms are needed to make minerals and other nutrients available to plants, so hence when these are lacking in the soil, the resulting food is often much lower in nutrient content. Also, our bodies require extra nutrients to process pesticide residues that remain inside the foods.
Long-distance transportation of many foods diminishes their nutrition
As soon as food is harvested, the levels of certain nutrients begin to diminish. It can be weeks between when the food was picked, transported, packed, stored, and then finally eaten.
Food processing often drastically reduces nutrient conten
For example, the refining of wheat to make white flour removes approximately 80% of its magnesium, 70-80% of its zinc, 87% of its chromium, 88% of its manganese, and 50% of its cobalt. Similarly, polishing rice removes about 75% of its zinc and chromium.
Food additives can further deplete nutrients
Artificial flavours, colours, stabilizers and preservatives are added to a large proportion of foods available. While some are harmless and may even increase the quality of food and preserving it, many are toxic and can deplete the body of nutrients.
Weak digestion and poor eating habits impair the absorption of nutrients
Digestion issues are on the most common health complaints today. People with impaired digestion often don’t absorb nutrients sufficiently, which further increases nutritional needs. This is why when trying to balance nutritional deficiencies, the initial focus should always be on correcting gut health and supporting digestion.
Stress
Being under a lot of Stress can deplete many nutrients including calcium, magnesium and zinc. Among other implications, stress reduces digestive strength. This, in turn, reduces nutrient absorption and utilization even further. It’s not always external factors that contribute to deficiencies!
Unhealthy lifestyle habits
If you drink alcohol, smoke heavily, live in a polluted city or are pregnant, premenstrual, on the pill, or simply just in a stressful patch, your nutritional needs can increase greatly. There are foods and habits that can strip the body of nutrients that we should be mindful of, and we should try and limit (if possible):
Smoking and drinking alcohol: Depletes the quantity of vitamin C in the body. Smokers generally need twice as much vitamin C intake as non-smokers to maintain comparable blood levels.
Drinking coffee: A cup of coffee can cut your iron absorption to 1/3 of normal.
Taking pharmaceutical drugs – Aspirin increases the need for vitamin C. Paracetamol increase the need for antioxidants, like vitamins C, and E selenium. Antibiotics increases the need for B vitamins and probiotics (beneficial bacteria) Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and birth control pills increase the need for vitamins B6, B12 folic acid and zinc.
Recommended nutritional SUPPLEMENTS
