Preventing chronic diseases through the prism of integrative and functional medicine

Over the last 100 years, the average life expectancy has increased by around 30 years, which can be attributed to advances in medicine. However, quality of life has not improved significantly. Life expectancy is currently increasing faster than healthy life expectancy, which is the average number of years lived in good health. This means that the period during which people live in ill health is increasing.

This is a key problem. People are living longer but suffering from chronic diseases. Life expectancy worldwide has risen to an average of 73 years, six years more than in 2000. But chronic diseases are a bigger problem than they were 20 years ago. Nearly four out of five older adults live with multiple health conditions at the same time.

What are the most common causes of death worldwide? What do people die from? Worldwide, cardiovascular diseases and cancer are at the top. This is true for Europe, Central Asia and the USA; cardiovascular diseases and cancer far outnumber all other causes of death.

Interestingly, cardiovascular disease, pre-diabetes and cancer are often silent until they progress. If cardiovascular disease and diabetes are detected early, there is a good chance that we can change the course of the disease. The same applies to cancer, which has a high chance of being successfully treated in its early stages.

Metabolic health is key to preventing early death and is a warning sign for many diseases such as type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, infertility and depression. Many people are unaware of the importance and state of their metabolic health and do not know how to improve it. We pay particular attention to diabetes and obesity in metabolic health, as these are two diseases that have a major impact on the health of people worldwide.

The number of people with diabetes has increased from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014, with the increase more pronounced in low- and middle-income countries. Diabetes causes serious health complications and was responsible for around 2 million deaths in 2019. The death rate due to diabetes increased by 3% between 2000 and 2019.

In 2022, 1 in 8 people worldwide were living with obesity, and adult obesity rates have more than doubled since 1990. In 2022, there were 2.5 billion overweight adults, 890 million of whom were obese. Among children and adolescents, more than 390 million were overweight in the same year, including 160 million living with obesity. These figures point to a growing metabolic health challenge at global level.

Increased longevity has also brought longer working lives, more stress, and less time for self, family and food preparation and choice. Stress, fast food, lack of sleep and environmental toxins put additional strain on our bodies, increase inflammation and lead to chronic diseases and a vicious cycle that is not desirable. Chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and weight gain are already shortening the lifespan of our population, and the saddest thing is that they are already occurring in children.

Watching this lecture will give you a deeper insight into chronic diseases and their impact on quality of life. You will learn ...

https://vimeo.com/951576377/6297b184b4?share=copy