Lifestyle diseases (also called diseases of longevity, diseases of civilization, or degenerative diseases) are diseases that appear to increase in frequency as countries become more industrialized and people live longer. They include:
- Alzheimer's disease
- Atherosclerosis
- Cancer
- Chronic Liver Disease or Cirrhosis
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Nephritis or CRF
- Osteoporosis
- Stroke
In some interpretations, such diseases are a result of an inappropriate relationship between people and their environment. The onset of degenerative diseases is insidious, they take years to develop, and once encountered are not readily cured.
The basic evidence that supports the existence of lifestyle diseases is the different incidences of diseases and causes of death in various nations and cultures, as evidenced in compiled statistics.
A recent research paper published in the Lancet discussed the variation in cancer rates that evidences the existence of lifestyle diseases.
"In many [Western] countries, peoples' diet changed substantially in the second half of the twentieth century, generally with increases in consumption of meat, dairy products, vegetable oils, fruit juice, and alcoholic beverages, and decreases in consumption of starchy staple foods such as bread, potatoes, rice, and maize flour. Other aspects of lifestyle also changed, notably, large reductions in physical activity and large increases in the prevalence of obesity."
"It was noted in the 1970s that people in many Western countries had diets high in animal products, fat, and sugar, and high rates of cancers of the colorectum, breast, prostate, endometrium, and lung; by contrast, individuals in developing countries usually had diets that were based on one or two starchy staple foods, with low intakes of animal products, fat, and sugar, and low rates of these cancers."
"These observations suggest that the diets [or lifestyle] of different populations might partly determine their rates of cancer, and the basis for this hypothesis was strengthened by results of studies showing that people who migrate from one country to another generally acquire the cancer rates of the new host country, suggesting that environmental [or lifestyle factors] rather than genetic factors are the key determinants of the international variation in cancer rates."[1]
An analysis of the death statistics of the United States reveals some interesting facts that support the existence of the lifestyle diseases.
In 1900, the top three causes of death in the United States were pneumonia/influenza, tuberculosis, and diarrhea/enteritis. Communicable diseases accounted for about 60 percent of all deaths. In 1900, heart disease and cancer were ranked number four and eight respectively. Since the 1940s, most deaths in the United States have resulted from heart disease, cancer, and other degenerative diseases. And, by the late 1990s, degenerative diseases accounted for more than 60 percent of all deaths.
In 1900, these top three causes of death were from communicable diseases. Since the 1940s, most deaths have come from a completely different category of disease called lifestyle diseases, or diseases of longevity, which have been unmasked by the amelioration of diseases that previously caused death at younger ages.[2] Until the present era, death was largely due to infections, malignancies, injuries, poisonings, and war.
Modern science through improved sanitation, vaccination, and treatment, have reduced the threat of death from most infectious diseases. This means that death from heart disease and cancer are now the primary causes of death. These disease have proven less amenable to treatment, though some advances in their understanding have clearly been made.
International variation in cancer rates
Death statistics in the United States
References
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