We have been lectured about bad habits for decades which have been blamed for the increase in lifestyle diseases which often occur with age such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and some forms of cancers. Approximately 70% of all deaths around the globes are now attributed to unhealthy lifestyle habits, in the UK, that number jumps to roughly 90%.
Too little fresh produce and too much processed foods, too much smoking, drinking, being obese, too much stress, and not enough exercise or sleep are all factors that appear to make these disease far more likely, and having any of them can lead to the likelihood of getting another. No one knows exactly why, and what causes most of these diseases still hasn’t been fully worked out.
Alzheimer’s disease is among the top killers in the world, yet despite this it is still not fully understood, and all attempts at finding a cure have failed, and the main hypothesis for how it originates imploded earlier this years after drugs based on this theory have repeatedly failed. Even heart attacks are somewhat of a mystery as high blood cholesterol is blamed for having a heart attack, but most people that suffer a heart attack do not have high blood cholesterol.
What is known is that these conditions typically start causing symptoms later in life, and prevalence of these occurring is increasing as we live longer. All of these conditions turn inflammation against us, which is meant to be the method the immune system uses to kill invaders, making it the silent root cause of many diseases. These diseases also are not communicable by definition either, meaning they must come down to having unlucky genes and bad habits, not germs.
However, we are finding out that this is not necessarily true, as science is increasingly showing that bacteria is covertly involved in invading our organs and co-opting the immune system to boost their abilities. So it turns out that bacteria may be the culprit behind many of these diseases. Now hopefully since science is uncovering this potential source/cause they can work on developing cures for these diseases that can often prove to be fatal.
It is worth noting that outside of foreign bacteria making its way into our body, bacteria also brings us back to the importance of having healthy populations of gut bacteria which is highly influenced by what we put in our bodies. Lifestyle choices may not be completely off the hook after all.
