You may have heard a lot about lifestyle disease, metabolic syndrome, and civilizational disorders in recent health news. These are new terminology that covers diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, which were almost unknown barely a few hundred years ago but now rank first among the leading causes of mortality.
These terminologies are the subject of some debate. Some argue that terms like lifestyle disease are overly restrictive, putting the blame for diseases on lifestyle when there are many contributory factors.
Some experts argue that metabolic syndrome, a set of risk variables used to assess risk for a variety of severe diseases, is not a disease in and of itself.
The term "diseases of civilization" is inaccurate because historical civilizations like Egypt and Greece would have had diseases that no longer exist as a result of their civilization, but they would not have had many if any, cases of these modern diseases. While these are all valid points worth debating, they divert our attention away from a much more pressing issue. Is your current way of living putting you in danger of developing one of these diseases or contributing to it?
Yes, if you reside in an industrialized country like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, or Japan. While smoking cigarettes does not directly cause lung cancer, heart disease, or hypertension, it is clearly a contributing factor. That means that if you smoke as part of your daily routine, you are increasing your chances of contracting one of these diseases.
Similarly, if your diet is high in simple carbs, especially refined sugars devoid of fiber and nutrients, such as those found in sugary soft drinks, you're more likely to acquire Type II Diabetes, renal disease, hypertension, and obesity. While sugar may not be the sole cause, a high-sugar diet puts you at a much-increased risk of developing these diseases.
So, whether you name them lifestyle diseases or not, your lifestyle does have a role in your chances of contracting one or more of these illnesses. Whether or not you agree with a metabolic syndrome diagnosis, If you have it, you're at a higher risk for a variety of ailments, and if your doctor uses it as a starting point for prescribing a lifestyle modification, that's probably a good thing.
Whether or not the term "ailments of civilization" is an accurate description, it may provide us with an umbrella word under which we may categorize many of these diseases that we may be able to address my dietary and other lifestyle changes.