Diseases of affluence

Diseases of affluence is a term sometimes given to selected diseases and other health conditions which are commonly thought to be a result of increasing wealth in a society.^[1] Psychologists' research is probing why affluent people enjoy better health. Epidemiological studies have confirmed the relationship between income, education and occupation on the one hand and health outcomes on the other. Studies have found that relative risk of death increased significantly as rank decreased. The message is simple: the lower a person's socioeconomic status, the greater their risk of both physical and psychological health problems.^[2]

Also referred to as the "Western disease" paradigm, these diseases are in contrast to so-called "diseases of poverty", which largely result from and contribute to human impoverishment. The modern diet and sedentary lifestyle is argued to be the blame for current levels of obesity,^[3] cardiovascular disease,^[4] high blood pressure,^[5] type 2 diabetes,^[6] osteoporosis,^[7] colorectal cancer,^[8] acne,^[9] gout,^[10] depression, and diseases related to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.^[11] These diseases of affluence have vastly increased in prevalence since the end of World War II.

Examples of diseases of affluence include mostly chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and other physical health conditions for which personal lifestyles and societal conditions associated with economic development are believed to be an important risk factor — such as type 2 diabetes, asthma,^[12] coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, obesity, hypertension, cancer, alcoholism, gout, and some types of allergy.^[1][13][14]

They may also be considered to include depression and other mental health conditions associated with increased social isolation and lower levels of psychological well being observed in many developed countries.^[15][16] Many of these conditions are interrelated, for example obesity is thought to be a partial cause of many other illnesses.

In contrast, the diseases of poverty tend to be largely infectious diseases, or the result of poor living conditions. These include tuberculosis, asthma, and intestinal diseases.^[17] Increasingly, research is finding that diseases thought to be diseases of affluence also appear in large part in the poor. These diseases include obesity and cardiovascular disease and, coupled with infectious diseases, these further increase global health inequalities.^[1]

Diseases of affluence are predicted to become more prevalent in developing countries as diseases of poverty decline, longevity increases, and lifestyles change.^[1][13] In 2008, nearly 80% of deaths due to NCDs — including heart disease, strokes, chronic lung diseases, cancers and diabetes — occurred in low- and middle-income countries.^[18]

Causes

Factors associated with the increase of these conditions and illnesses ironically appear to be things that are a direct result of technological advances. They include:

• Less strenuous physical exercise, often through increased use of motor vehicles
• Irregular exercise as a result of office jobs involving no physical labor.
• Easy accessibility in society to large amounts of low-cost food (relative to the much-lower caloric food availability in a subsistence economy)
  • More food generally, with much less physical exertion expended to obtain a moderate amount of food
  • More high fat and high sugar foods in the diet are common in the affluent developed economies of the late-twentieth century
  • Higher consumption of meat and dairy products
  • Higher consumption of refined flours and products made of such, like white bread or white noodles
  • More foods which are processed, cooked, and commercially provided (rather than seasonal, fresh foods prepared locally at time of eating)^[19]
• Prolonged periods of little activity
• Greater use of alcohol and tobacco
• Longer life-spans
  • Reduced exposure to infectious agents throughout life (this can result in a more idle and inexperienced immune system [as compared to an individual that experienced relatively frequent exposure to certain pathogens in their time of life])

See also

• Social determinants of health
• Paleolithic diet / Paleolithic lifestyle
• The China Study (2005 book on the relationship between the consumption of animal products and selected illnesses)
• Affluenza

General:

• Nutrition
• Urbanisation
• Westernization

References

1. Ezzati M, Vander Hoorn S, Lawes CM, et al. (May 2005). "Rethinking the "diseases of affluence" paradigm: global patterns of nutritional risks in relation to economic development". PLoS Med. 2 (5): e133. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0020133. PMC 1088287. PMID 15916467.
2. "Wealth secures health". www.apa.org. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
3. Wood LE (October 2006). "Obesity, waist–hip ratio and hunter–gatherers". BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. 113 (10): 1110–16. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2006.01070.x. PMID 16972857.
4. Kopp, Wolfgang (May 2006). "The atherogenic potential of dietary carbohydrate". Preventive Medicine. 42 (5): 336–42. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2006.02.003. PMID 16540158.
5. Tekol, Yalcin (April 2008). "Maternal and infantile dietary salt exposure may cause hypertension later in life". Birth Defects Research Part B: Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology. 83 (2): 77–79. doi:10.1002/bdrb.20149. PMID 18330898.
6. Dedoussis GV, Kaliora AC, Panagiotakos DB (Spring 2007). "Genes, Diet and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Review". Review of Diabetic Studies. 4 (1): 13–24. doi:10.1900/RDS.2007.4.13. PMC 1892523. PMID 17565412.
7. Sebastian A, Frassetto LA, Sellmeyer DE, Merriam RL, Morris RC Jr (1 December 2002). "Estimation of the net acid load of the diet of ancestral preagricultural Homo sapiens and their hominid ancestors". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 76 (6): 1308–16. PMID 12450898.
8. Leach, Jeff D. (January 2007). "Evolutionary perspective on dietary intake of fibre and colorectal cancer". European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 61 (1): 140–42. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602486. PMID 16855539.
9. Keri, Jonette E; Nijhawan, Rajiv (August 2008). "Diet and acne". Expert Review of Dermatology. 3 (4): 437–40. doi:10.1586/17469872.3.4.437.
10. Chen LX, Schumacher HR (October 2008). "Gout: an evidence-based review". J Clin Rheumatol. 14 (5 Suppl): S55–62. doi:10.1097/RHU.0b013e3181896921. PMID 18830092.
11. Cunnane, Stephen C. (1 August 2005). "Origins and evolution of the Western diet: implications of iodine and seafood intakes for the human brain". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 82 (2): 483; author reply 483–4. PMID 16087997.
12. Von Hertzen LC, Haahtela T (February 2004). "Asthma and atopy — the price of affluence?". Allergy. 59 (2): 124–37. doi:10.1046/j.1398-9995.2003.00433.x. PMID 14763924.
13. "Rethinking "diseases of affluence" (PDF). Geneva: World Health Organization.
14. Patterson K. (15 November 2010). "Diseases of Affluence". Maisonneuve.
15. Luthar SS (2003). "The culture of affluence: psychological costs of material wealth". Child Dev. 74 (6): 1581–93. doi:10.1046/j.1467-8624.2003.00625.x. PMC 1950124. PMID 14669883.
16. Hamilton C. (15 October 2004). "Diseases of affluence and other paradoxes". The Australian Financial Review.
17. Singh AR, Singh SA (January 2008). "Diseases of poverty and lifestyle, well-being and human development". Mens Sana Monogr. 6 (1): 187–225. doi:10.4103/0973-1229.40567. PMC 3190550. PMID 22013359.
18. World Health Organization. New WHO report: deaths from noncommunicable diseases on the rise, with developing world hit hardest. Geneva, 27 April 2011.
19. Boseley, Sarah (2004-12-31). "15-Year Study Links Fast Food To Obesity". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-05-01.

Further reading

• Trowell HC, Burkitt DP. Western Diseases: Their Emergence and Prevention. Harvard University Press.

External links

• Nutritional Sciences (resources from Cornell University)