Blue Zones Project Blog

No doubt treatment has never been better for various forms of cancer such as leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and testicular cancer. But the best treatment will be prevention by embracing healthy lifestyles such as avoiding tobacco use, maintaining a good body weight, and moderate use of alcohol.

No one wants to be a patient, but if you are—or if you have a family member who is—it would be nice to know what to ask and how best to be treated well.

“Eating Better for Less: A National Discount Program for Healthy Food Purchases in South Africa,” is the title of a paper published in the American Journal of Health Behavior, proving that diet quality can be improved by reducing prices of healthy foods.

You have probably heard about a vaccine being able to prevent shingles. This painful, localized recurrence of chicken pox always occurs on only one side of the body, usually later in life, in people who have had chicken pox as a child. About one in three people used to get shingles prior to the availability of the vaccine according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Should you ask your pharmacist or physician for this prevention?

Obesity is America’s epidemic. We are what we eat is a thought which we all need to take even more seriously than we ever have before in our current civilized society.

A major opportunity to improve the value of healthcare lies in eliminating unnecessary tests. A few years ago the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM Foundation) issued a comprehensive report entitled Choosing Wisely. The focus of this broad and somewhat controversial report was on medical tests and procedures that may be unnecessary and, in some instances, can cause harm.

As individuals gain weight, many myths and presumptions about obesity have also grown– despite the lack of objective evidence. A New England Journal of Medicine article (“Myths, Presumptions, and Facts about Obesity”) helped separate facts from these many myths and presumptions. Our nation has the distinction of being the second fattest nation in the history of the world. Nauru is the fattest.

Forty-three percent of the increase in daily calories Americans consumed over the last 30 years has come from sugary drinks, according to Dr. Harold Goldstein, Executive Director of the non-profit California Center for Public Health Advocacy.

Most everyone is concerned about the predicted epidemic of Alzheimer’s disease. Epidemiologists expect the 5.4 million Americans over 65 presently diagnosed with memory loss will grow to 13.5 million by 2050. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in our country.

Nearly half of the physicians in our country think we are delivering too much care. In a survey conducted by the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, in association with Dr. Brenda Sirovich from the Outcomes Group at a Veterans Medical Center, 627 physicians from an American Medical Association database were asked to share their thoughts. More than 40 percent thought their own patients received too much care, six percent thought too little care, and the remaining thought just the right amount of care.