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• Length of Life is Affected by the Whole of Your Life
  Margaret Moss
  Published on: 2 April 2018

• Published on: 2 April 2018

  Length of Life is Affected by the Whole of Your Life

  • Margaret Moss, Nutritionist Nutrition and Allergy Clinic

  It is bittersweet to see one’s predictions of a fall in life expectancy coming into being.
  I work on statistics, but also talk to patients regularly about their diets, lifestyles and
  environments. The medical service struggles to deal with the results of poor diet and
  pollution. Perhaps it is time for a health service to deal with the causes of illness.

  Ancel Keys crusaded against fats. He cherry picked data from only 6 of the available
  22 countries. Sugar was then used to make low fat food palatable. Fructose and
  galactose, in sugar, milk, corn syrup and fruit, are implicated in cancer, heart disease,
  dementia and diabetes.

  Are the NHS and social care the priorities? Perhaps money to buy good food is more
  important, and maybe we have too much medicine, not too little. I have seen patients
  taking up to 29 different drugs. No pharmacologist can work out how they interact.
  One patient took 5 drugs for his asthma. People complain of drug side effects and are
  just given more drugs to deal with these symptoms.

  The Depression was forgotten, and it was assumed we could keep becoming richer,
  until 2008. Similarly we cannot just extrapolate the increasing life expectancy figures.
  Public health improved after building reservoirs, chlorinating water, installing sewage
  systems, reducing overcrowding and setting up smokeless zones.

  However, chemical production has increased greatly...

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  It is bittersweet to see one’s predictions of a fall in life expectancy coming into being.
  I work on statistics, but also talk to patients regularly about their diets, lifestyles and
  environments. The medical service struggles to deal with the results of poor diet and
  pollution. Perhaps it is time for a health service to deal with the causes of illness.

  Ancel Keys crusaded against fats. He cherry picked data from only 6 of the available
  22 countries. Sugar was then used to make low fat food palatable. Fructose and
  galactose, in sugar, milk, corn syrup and fruit, are implicated in cancer, heart disease,
  dementia and diabetes.

  Are the NHS and social care the priorities? Perhaps money to buy good food is more
  important, and maybe we have too much medicine, not too little. I have seen patients
  taking up to 29 different drugs. No pharmacologist can work out how they interact.
  One patient took 5 drugs for his asthma. People complain of drug side effects and are
  just given more drugs to deal with these symptoms.

  The Depression was forgotten, and it was assumed we could keep becoming richer,
  until 2008. Similarly we cannot just extrapolate the increasing life expectancy figures.
  Public health improved after building reservoirs, chlorinating water, installing sewage
  systems, reducing overcrowding and setting up smokeless zones.

  However, chemical production has increased greatly since 1945, polluting air and
  water. Many chemicals are in household products. Animal feed is often from poorly
  tested GM crops. One food can contain a variety of pesticides, herbicides and food
  additives. Heavy traffic pollutes the towns. Cars and machines have made exercise
  optional. Antibiotics have been abused in agriculture and medicine, damaging gut
  bacteria and producing drug resistant infections. Amalgam fillings, fluorescent lights
  and some vaccines contain mercury. Vaccines and some water supplies contain
  aluminium. People are exposed to cordless phones, microwaves, phone masts and
  wifi. Over the counter, prescription, alcohol and illegal drugs interact. Many drugs
  cause nutritional deficiencies, for example statin drugs cause coenzyme Q10
  deficiency. Food banks cannot provide fresh food. People have had to move away
  from their families to find work, and are no longer nearby to help relatives. These
  factors interact.

  The increases in, autism, asthma, dementia, diabetes and cancer should warn us to
  make life healthier for the population, rather than dealing with damage already done.
  We should maximise healthy life expectancy, not mere existence.

  References:

  1. Moss M, Freed D. The Cow and the Coronary: Epidemiology,
  Biochemistry and Immunology. Int J Cardiol 2003; 87: 203-216.

  2. Moss M. Drugs as Anti-nutrients. J Nutr Env Med 2007; 16(2):149-
  166. DOI: 10.1080/13590840701352740.

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  Conflict of Interest:
  None declared.

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