FOOD VS MEDICINE – Should Diet Changes Come Before
Prescriptions?
Samantha Hemmingway
FOOD VS MEDICINE
Should diet changes come before
prescriptions?
Everything is wrong:
- 70% of Americans are on
prescription drugs
- 69% Percent of adults are
overweight or obese
- 31% of adults have high blood
pressure
- 33.5% of adults have high LDL or
“bad” cholesterol
Everything being wrong is
expensive:
- Costs of obesity-related illness:
$190.2 billion/yr
- 21% of annual medical spending in
the United States
- Price tag for childhood obesity:
$19,000 per kid
- If current trends continue obesity
spending will quadruple to $344 billion by 2018
- Costs of High blood pressure:
$47.5 billion/yr
- Reducing sodium intake from
3,400mg to 2,300mg per day may reduce cases of high blood pressure
by 11 million and save 18 billion/yr
- Costs of cholesterol medications:
$18.7 billion/yr
- High cholesterol is a significant
risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and specifically for
coronary heart disease (CHD).
- Cardiovascular disease is the
leading cause of death in the U.S
Healthcare costs are high
because pills are expensive:
- The United States spends far more
per capita on medicines than other developed countries
- Drugs account for 10 percent of
the country’s $2.7 trillion annual health bill
- Should simple diet changes comes
before prescriptions?
- A vegetarian diet can reduce blood
pressure by about half the drop expected from medication
- Eating vegetarian is cheaper than
buying pills
- Plus you get the beneficial side
effects of:
- Lower cholesterol
- Weight loss
The DASH (Dietary
Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan to lower blood pressure by
up to 10 points:
■ Keep fat intake under 27% of total
calories
■ Eat many servings of fruits and
vegetables
■ Choose whole instead of processed grains
■ Include low-fat or nonfat dairy products
■ Should you eat meat, choose small
portions of poultry or fish as your primary source of protein
■ Make nuts a source of protein
Source(s):
www.BestMasterofScienceinNursing.com
http://www.healthfreedoms.org/food-vs-medicine-should-diet-changes-come-before-prescriptions-2/
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