ProBalance : Latest Breakthrough In Nutritional Science

Obesity and Cancer

Too much weight also heightens the risk of many forms of cancer, although few people are aware of the link. Being overweight or obese seems to be responsible for 14 percent of all cancer deaths in men and 20 percent of cancer deaths in women, a large scale study published earlier this year in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Body Mass Index = Weight (kg) / [Height (m) x Height (m)]

A Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 and above is considered overweight; 30 and above, obese. A person who is 5 foot 8 inches is overweight at 165 pounds and obese at 195.

Exactly how big a risk excess weight poses was demonstrated dramatically in the New England Journal of Medicine study. Researchers tracked more than 900,000 U.S. adults who were cancer free in 1982, following them for the next 16 years. They factored in other risk factors to determine what role excess weight played in cancers.

The researchers concluded there is an association between BMI and death from many forms of cancer, and they identified several forms of the disease not previously linked to unhealthy body weight.

These include cancer of the colon, esophagus, gall bladder, kidney, liver, pancreas and rectum, as well as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma. For men, there is an increased risk of prostate and stomach cancer; for women, cancer of the breast, cervix, ovaries and uterus.

One reason excess weight may raise your cancer risk is that fat cells produce a kind of estrogen called estradiol, and this accelerates rapid cell division, in turn increasing cancer risk.

Convincing people to get down to a healthy weight as well as stopping smoking, eating a healthy diet, exercising and getting regular checkups, will produce a dramatic reduction in cancer deaths.

Obesity and Heart Disease

Excess body fat costs the United States health system an estimated USD31 billion in treatment for the millions of overweight and obese people who develop heart disease, according to a government study. While the link between obesity and cardiovascular disease has been well documented, this study is the first to measure the economic impact of excess body weight on the disease in the United States. More than half of the Americans included in this study were overweight or obese.

"The contribution of excess body weight to cardiovascular disease is so large that by itself it warrants the development of population-based physical activity and nutrition strategies to reduce and prevent excess body weight," says lead author Guijing Wang, Ph.D., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, writing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

To study the contribution of obesity as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the researchers analyzed the direct medical costs from a nationally representative sample by linking two national health surveys.

They found that the prevalence of cardiovascular disease among obese individuals was twice that of those with normal weight. Twenty percent of the cardiovascular disease cases among overweight individuals were associated with excess body weight. Among obese individuals, 45 percent of the cardiovascular cases were associated with obesity.

The extra burden of overweight and obese individuals led to 7.75 million extra cases of heart disease.

In 1998, cardiovascular disease claimed nearly 1 million lives and accounted for 40 percent of all the United States deaths. Current estimates are that more than 60 million Americans have one or more types of cardiovascular disease. The total economic burden of cardiovascular disease was estimated at USD498 billion for 2001, accounting for 61 percent of all healthcare spending.

Natural Solutions

Contrary to the present day dogma, illness develops due to certain factors that can be avoided with proper knowledge. Armed with the right information, existing chronic conditions can be prevented or reversed. Isn’t a lifetime of sickness and suffering too high a price to pay for lack of knowledge?

By applying holistic principles and natural therapies, we can live a healthy and rewarding life and avoid deadly diseases that threaten our chance of living life to the fullest.

There are numerous resources available for us to learn about optimum nutrition, internal cleansing and detoxification, and holistic living in general. The natural solutions that help us counteract the dangers posed by unhealthy food, chemicals and external and internal pollution are as follows;

1) Learn about nutrition
It is difficult to avoid the exposure to deadly toxins in our food, water and environment. You must educate yourself and those around you on ways to avoid these dangers. Learn about holistic nutrition and natural ways of keeping yourself and your family healthy.

2) Detoxify your body
Expel toxins from your body before they make you ill. Until we learn to put as much emphasis on internal cleansing as we do on external hygiene, such as bathing or brushing our teeth, our colon, liver and other organs will continue to suffer.

3) Reduce your weight
Weight loss, as modest as 5 to 15 percent of total body weight in a person who is overweight or obese, reduces the risk factors for some diseases, particularly heart disease. Weight loss can result in lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar and improved cholesterol levels.

A person with a BMI above the healthy weight range may benefit from weight loss, especially if he or she has other health risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, a sedentary lifestyle and a personal and/or family history of heart disease.

The great medical divide – which side are you on?

As alternative health professionals, we see our future world as one that is completely divided between two groups of people;