![]() So here I am feeling like the bad guy because everywhere you look, there's sugary and salty, ultraprocessed foods. She said, Mom, like, everyone eats this kind of stuff. Earlier this week, I was at Starbucks with my daughter, and she was eyeing the cake pop and a pink drink, and I said something like, oh, that's more sugar than you should have in a day. Do we make time for exercise, movement, for socializing with friends? I think it's not always easy to make the healthiest choices. I mean, our big levers are what we eat, how much we sleep, how we manage stress. spends about $4 trillion a year in health care each year, only 4 or 5% of that is directed toward public health and prevention.įADEL: Wait, what? Out of $4 trillion, only 4 to 5% is about the prevention that stops us going to the hospitals?įADEL: So then when it comes to prevention, are there things that people can just do for themselves?ĪUBREY: Absolutely. You know, we wait for people to get sick and then try to fix them with surgeries and drugs, which of course, can help, but it's very expensive. What about doctors and the health care system?ĪUBREY: I think one of the criticisms of our system is that it's not so much health care as it is disease care. And the YMCA in Muskegon is showing that a community approach to diabetes prevention can be less expensive compared to one-on-one counseling and can also help bring people together.įADEL: And community programs, as you point out, are important. There's lots of data to show that this disease can be prevented or reversed with healthy eating and exercise. We plan to visit Muskegon, Mich., where they are scaling up evidence-based programs such as the Diabetes Prevention Program. Despite these challenges, there are communities coming together to prioritize health. So where you live influences how long you live.įADEL: So it's not necessarily access to a doctor as much as access to a safe place to live and resources.ĪUBREY: Absolutely. People who live there can expect to live into their late 80s or 90 years old, but not too far away in Camden, average life expectancy is lower - about 74 years. If you take a fairly wealthy ZIP code - let's say Princeton, N.J. So where do we start to turn it around?ĪUBREY: Well, we start by recognizing who is falling behind. When you put it that way, it does sound awful. the most sophisticated health care system in the world - great doctors, top-notch hospitals, lots of medical breakthroughs - we as a nation are not getting healthier.įADEL: I mean, just hearing that number - a thousand deaths a day from diet-related diseases - if I had heard you say that every day for months, it really impacts you. Now, these deaths are not as dramatic, but I think the great tragedy is that despite having here in the U.S. Nearly a thousand deaths a day are linked to diet-related disease - heart disease, complications from Type 2 diabetes, liver disease. has a similar death toll from preventable diseases. ![]() Why this focus now?ĪUBREY: You know, you might remember how many times my colleagues and I came on this program during the pandemic with the COVID death count - a thousand deaths a day, 2,000 deaths a day, and everyone was horrified. Good morning.įADEL: So give us a preview of the series. So what can be done about it? NPR's Allison Aubrey joins us to talk about the project. So this week, NPR is launching an ongoing series of stories called "Living Better: How Americans Can Take Back Their Health." Americans rank poorly on many health outcomes compared to other nations, and things only got worse during the pandemic. ![]()
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