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Posted by Ed Tavernier [69.117.239.169] on Friday, November 20, 2009 at 23:16:21 :
In Reply to: you are what you eat posted by Grant in CO [66.129.51.243] on Friday, November 20, 2009 at 20:40:58 :
Gar,
The incidence of cancer in the 20th century was lower than today. But Cancer is predominately a disease of ageing. The average life expectancy in 1900 was about 50 years. Today it is near 80. While babies died in child birth, and millions died if influenza today they live well into the 70's and 80's and beyond. With each decade of advancing age the risk of cancer increases.
Most cancers are caused by mutations in the genes. Thses are common to all of us and our bodies repair these mutations normally. As we age the repair mechansisms falter and we become increasingly more likely to develop some sort of cancer.
In the 20th century millions of people were afflicted with a virus that could cripple. Polio is now almost completely eradicated due to efforts at immunization. Smallpox has been almost entirely eradicated. In 1990 when you were diagnosed with HIV, AIDS was inevitable, and death was 6-12 months later. Today if you are diagnosed with HIV your life expectancy is unchanged!
Diets high in red meat tend to lead to certain health problems/cancers. But in Japan where the diet is low in red meat and high in fiber and seafood, gastric cancer is 10 times that of the USA.In the 1950's Hodgkins Lymphoma was fatal. Today it is almost always curable.
Medicine has made more strides forward in the last ten years than in the thousands of years before. Medicines are used to treat symptoms as well as cure.
Yes some MD's make more than others, and the pharmaceutical gold mine is going to find that profits are going to shrink. As a whole however the medical industries have improved the lives of millions and millions. And there are so many more things to learn and teach; and continue the war against illness. This is just the beginning. A hundred years from now we'll look back and say how primitive things were in 2009.
Eddie
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