Planet Health
Human health depends on the proper supply of food, air and water. Infection, injury and toxicity are environmental problems. There is a consensus that smoking, drinking and accidents are important preventable health hazards. The control of infectious disease through improved hygiene and immunization is one of the great health achievements of this century. The improvement in the diversity and availability of foods has been a mixed blessing with major problems emerging to negate the potential benefits.
Food is the most intimate part of the environment because we ingest it. When something goes wrong, it makes good sense to look at the flow of substances through the mouth for the source of the problem. We look not only at the composition of the food but also, and more importantly, at the interaction of the ingested molecules with body. Adverse reactions to food are common and produce many disturbances by a variety of mechanisms. Diagnosing adverse reactions to food is an important task of clinical medicine, despite the fact that it is not currently taught in medical schools.
A proper biological method of medicine must begin by recognizing and solving problems in food, air, and water supplies. A steady flow of molecules from the environment enters the body of each individual through the air breathed and the food and liquids ingested. This body-input determines health and disease in whole populations over the long-term and the moment to moment functional capacity of the individual. A person's performance can change dramatically with changes in this molecular stream. The quality and composition of air, food, and water changes continuously. The illusion of food continuity in the supermarket conceals changes in the growth, contamination, storage, spoiling, transportation, and merchandising of food products. To understand environmental reactivity we must deal with changes, variability and inconsistencies, and we must seek adaptive, flexible responses to changing circumstances.
The biologist sees living creatures connected to and interacting with their environment. It is normal for a biologist to think in terms of populations, food supply, seasons, weather and social-behaviors. Biologists do field studies that reveal patterns of adaptation to specific changes in the environment. Anyone who has worked with animals or fish in closed environments knows how critical environmental conditions and diet are in determining both the behavior and the physical status of the residents. When a fish in an aquarium displays disturbed behavior, you do not call a fish psychiatrist and prescribe Prozac; you check the oxygen concentration, temperature and pH of the water. You have to clean the tank and change the fish diet.
Each person interacts with home and work environments, which determine biological fate. In industrialized countries, the microenvironment of each person is controlled by human constructions and is generally polluted by toxic substances. The extent of this is seldom measured, and the effects are poorly understood. As environmental problems multiply, new ill-defined illnesses will increase.
The American Surgeon General's report on Nutrition and Health asserted in 1987 that at least half of all deaths in the USA are related to faulty diet and describes: "... the convergence of similar dietary recommendations that apply to prevention of multiple chronic diseases. Five of the ten leading causes of death in the USA are clearly related to wrong food choices. Diseases of nutritional deficiencies have declined and have been replaced by diseases of dietary excesses and imbalances-problems that now rank among the leading causes of illness and death, touch the lives of most Americans, and generate substantial health care costs."
Related Topics: Illness as Chaos Diet and Health Medical Methods and Diagnosis
