Tuesday, August 09, 2005
We're all gonna die!!!
Obesity! Heart Disease! Cancer! Chances are, if you're an American, that one of them is going to kill you. Especially the first one, if you're Lee Roth! OK, seriously though- there's been talk of an obesity epidemic sweeping the nation. Which is a ridiculous use of the term epidemic, but also beside the point. But obesity does threaten to be a big problem in the future of health care- it increases the incidence of diabetes, atherosclerosis, etc. It's bad to be obese, that's for sure. So does that mean we should try and head off this problem before it gets to be really bad?
I had one teacher who wrote the following numbers (something like them, at least) on a chalkboard:
2001 2002 2003
3000 0 0
17,000 18,000 17,000
900,000 900,000 900,000
The first number was the number of deaths from terrorism, the second from drunk driving, and the third from heart disease. The point he was trying to make? I don't know. The point I'm trying to make? Eh, I'm not sure. But you know what? At some point, humanity has to have some sort of ceiling for its life expectancy- and it won't matter if they die of heart disease or something else. I suspect that heart disease is a common way to die because it's the weak link in our body- pumping every second for 70 years probably gets a little rough. So maybe the fact that a lot of people die of heart disease is a good thing- that it means they aren't dying of all the other awful things you can die of in life.
Granted, dying at 45 from a heart attack- probably not 'good'. But dying at 65 or 75? Maybe that's all you can expect. The real issue here is preventability- dying from obesity-related causes is certainly preventable, but dying because the old ticker stopped working probably isn't.
In any case, obesity is going to be blamed for a lot of things; and rising health care costs is certainly one of those things. And sure, some of it will certainly be preventable. But take the coming statistics with a grain of salt- sure, heart disease may rise, and diabetes may too. But malnutrition rates and Twinkie sales will be much better! Of course, I can't leave without a simpsons quote:
Lisa: I feel like I'm going to die!
Bart: We're all going to die, Lis.
Lisa: I meant soon!
Bart: So did I.
I had one teacher who wrote the following numbers (something like them, at least) on a chalkboard:
2001 2002 2003
3000 0 0
17,000 18,000 17,000
900,000 900,000 900,000
The first number was the number of deaths from terrorism, the second from drunk driving, and the third from heart disease. The point he was trying to make? I don't know. The point I'm trying to make? Eh, I'm not sure. But you know what? At some point, humanity has to have some sort of ceiling for its life expectancy- and it won't matter if they die of heart disease or something else. I suspect that heart disease is a common way to die because it's the weak link in our body- pumping every second for 70 years probably gets a little rough. So maybe the fact that a lot of people die of heart disease is a good thing- that it means they aren't dying of all the other awful things you can die of in life.
Granted, dying at 45 from a heart attack- probably not 'good'. But dying at 65 or 75? Maybe that's all you can expect. The real issue here is preventability- dying from obesity-related causes is certainly preventable, but dying because the old ticker stopped working probably isn't.
In any case, obesity is going to be blamed for a lot of things; and rising health care costs is certainly one of those things. And sure, some of it will certainly be preventable. But take the coming statistics with a grain of salt- sure, heart disease may rise, and diabetes may too. But malnutrition rates and Twinkie sales will be much better! Of course, I can't leave without a simpsons quote:
Lisa: I feel like I'm going to die!
Bart: We're all going to die, Lis.
Lisa: I meant soon!
Bart: So did I.
# posted by Stuart @ 1:10 PM 
