Chronic illness is a side effect of SOMETHING!!!

There is nothing that inflames my emotions more than the phrase "I didn't ____ or we ate like____ and we are fine and healthy." or "We use this and have seen no side affects." Are we really healthy? What is healthy??? What is a side effect???

Just some simple statistics:

AUTO IMMUNE:

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH estimates up to 23.5 million Americans suffer from autoimmune disease and that the prevalence is rising.
• Researchers have identified 80-100 different autoimmune diseases and suspect at least 40 additional diseases of having an autoimmune basis. These diseases are chronic and can be life-threatening.
• Autoimmune disease is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in female children and women in all age groups up to 64 years. of age.
http://www.aarda.org/autoimmune_statistics.php

DEVELOPMENTAL:
• 1 in 150 children is diagnosed with autism, with 67 children diagnosed per day. That is equivalent to a new diagnosis almost every 20 minutes (Autism Speaks, Inc.).

·  Approximately 9.5% or 5.4 million children 4-17 years of age have ever been diagnosed with ADHD, as of 2007.
·  The percentage of children with a parent-reported ADHD diagnosis increased by 22% between 2003 and 2007.
·  Rates of ADHD diagnosis increased an average of 3% per year from 1997 to 2006 [Read article ] and an average of 5.5% per year from 2003 to 2007.·  Children with each of the diagnoses were more likely than children with neither ADHD nor LD to have other chronic health conditions.
·  Children with ADHD (with and without LD) were more likely than children without ADHD to have contact with a mental health professional, use prescription medication, and have frequent health care visits.
http://autism.emedtv.com/autism/autism-statistics.html

DIABETES: 
Data from the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet (released Jan. 26, 2011)

Total prevalence of diabetes

Total: 25.8 million children and adults in the United States—8.3% of the population—have diabetes.

Diagnosed: 18.8 million people

Undiagnosed: 7.0 million people

Prediabetes: 79 million people*

New Cases: 1.9 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older in 2010.

Under 20 years of age

• 215,000, or 0.26% of all people in this age group have diabetes
• About 1 in every 400 children and adolescents has diabetes

Age 20 years or older

• 25.6 million, or 11.3% of all people in this age group have diabetes

Age 65 years or older

• 10.9 million, or 26.9% of all people in this age group have diabetes

Men

• 13.0 million, or 11.8% of all men aged 20 years or older have diabetes

Women

• 12.6 million, or 10.8% of all women aged 20 years or older have diabetes

In 2005-2008, of adults aged 20 years or older with self-reported diabetes, 67% had blood pressure greater than or equal to 140/90 mmHg or used prescription medications for hypertension.

In 2008, 48,374 people with diabetes began treatment for end-stage kidney disease in the United States.

http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diabetes-statistics/

HEART:

• Percent of noninstitutionalized adults with diagnosed heart disease: 12%
• Percent of adults age 20 years and over with high serum cholesterol (greater than or equal to 240 mg/dL): 15% (2005-2008)
• Percent of non-institutionalized adults ages 20 and over with hypertension: 33% (2007-2008)

 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/cholest.htm

OBESITY:

• Percent of adolescents age 12-19 years who are obese: 18% (2007-2008)
• Percent of children age 6-11 years who are obese: 20% (2007-2008)
• Percent of children age 2-5 years who are obese: 10% (2007-2008)
• Percent of adults age 20 years and over who are obese: 34% (2007-2008)
• Percent of adults age 20 years and over who are overweight (and not obese): 34% (2007-2008)

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm

CANCER:
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/CancerStatistics/

ALLERGY:

The prevalence of food allergy among children under the age of 18 increased 18% percent from 1997 to 2007.⁸

·  Atopic dermatitis affects between 10% and 20% of children and 1% to 3% of adults.¹⁹

·  As many as 15% to 24% of people in the United States will experience acute urticaria (hives) and/or angioedema at some point in their lives.²⁵

It is estimated that the number of cases of anaphylaxis from foods in the US increased from 21,000 per year in 1999 to 51,000 per year in 2008, based on long term population studies of anaphylaxis from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.³⁵

·  Food allergy related hospital admissions increased from 2,600 per year (1998-2000) to 9,500 per year (2004-2006), according to a study from Branum and colleagues.³⁶

·  It is estimated that food allergies cause approximately 150 to 200 fatalities per year, based on data from a five year study of anaphylaxis in Minnesota from the Mayo Clinic.³⁷

·  Anaphylactic reactions to penicillin cause 400 deaths.^{7 (more that the flu)}

• Sinusitis accounts for approximately 20% of office visits to specialists in allergy and immunology.²¹
• Approximately 12% of Americans under the age of 45 have symptoms of chronic sinusitis.²¹
• In one study, 55% of patients with sinusitis also had a history of allergic rhinitis.²¹
• Sinusitis is one of the leading forms of chronic disease, with an estimated 18 million cases and at least 30 million courses of antibiotics per year.²²
• About 40,000 people have sinus surgery every year.²²

http://www.aaaai.org/about-the-aaaai/newsroom/allergy-statistics.aspx

ASTHMA:

• Percent of noninstitutionalized adults who currently have asthma: 7.7% 
• Percent of children who currently have asthma: 9.4%               http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/asthma.htm

NEUROLOGICAL:

-Nearly 1 out of every 1000 people in the US - around 266,000 people - suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS). This figure is 50% higher than that estimated by a similarly large literature review published in 1982 (Neurology, vol 32, p 1207).

Analysis also estimates that 67 out of every 1000 people aged 65 or older in the US suffers from Alzheimer's disease.

• About two out of every 1000 youngsters have Tourette's syndrome, which is characterised by uncontrolled movements and speech.

-A recent study projected that the number of people living with Parkinson's disease will double from about 4.3 million to 9 million people worldwide over the next 25 years (Neurology, vol 68, p 384).

Journal reference: Neurology (vol 68, p 326)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11052-marked-rise-in-ms-in-the-us-debated-by-scientists.html

FERTILITY:

• Number of women ages 15-44 with impaired fecundity (impaired ability to have children): 7.3 million
• Percent of women ages 15-44 with impaired fecundity: 11.8%
• Number of married women ages 15-44 that are infertile (unable to get pregnant for at least 12 consecutive months): 2.1 million
• Percent of married women ages 15-44 that are infertile: 7.4%
• Number of women ages 15-44 who have ever used infertility services: 7.3 million (CDC)

Incidence extrapolations for USA for Male infertility: 2,000,000 per year, 166,666 per month, 38,461 per week, 5,479 per day, 228 per hour, 3 per minute, 0 per second. Note: this extrapolation calculation uses the incidence statistic: at least 2 million annual cases (based on NWHIC) 

- Birth rates have lowered by about 11% in the last 50 years! 

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005067.html 
Prevalance of Polycystic ovary syndrome: 5-10% women of childbearing age (20-40); 30% of women have some PCOS symptoms (NWHIC).

It is an essential part of survival to look into what we breath, eat, smoke, drink, take and live in order to better our heath. We can not function under the notion that a professional can do it for us. Each aspect of our lives affect us in a domino effect positive or negative. Most research done by regulators of things we consume are short, minimalistic studies that last small chunks of time. They are done in optimal, very controlled samples and can not be used as gospel!!!