The Stats
America’s Poor Health: Physical, Mental and Socio-Political
The backbone of the book, Natural Law
The Higher Our BMI = The More We Spread
America Was in an Early-Death Crisis Long Before COVID
Even before the pandemic began, more people here were dying at younger ages than in comparably wealthy nations.
Roughly 70% of diseases in the U.S. are chronic and lifestyle-driven, according to the CDC, and nearly half of the population has one or more chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, heart disease, obesity, or cancer.
It’s an expensive issue: 86% of annual healthcare costs in the U.S. are driven by chronic disease. Meanwhile, U.S. healthcare expenditures tripled in the last 50 years, from 5% of gross domestic product in 1960 to 17.9% in 2016, according to the CDC.
Studies and lectures in 2007 even lamented the poor health of the American people. “When it comes to reducing early deaths, medical care has a relatively minor role. Even if the entire U.S. population had access to excellent medical care — which it does not — only a small fraction of these deaths could be prevented. The single greatest opportunity to improve health and reduce premature deaths lies in personal behavior. In fact, behavioral causes account for nearly 40% of all deaths…”
New England Journal of Medicine
Our Health, Physical & Mental
40% of Americans are obese; another 32% are overweight.
- CDC.gov
Estimate: Half of US adults will be obese by 2030
- ABC News
Obesity may reduce COVID-19 vaccine efficacy
Obesity is the second most preventable cause of death after smoking.
Economic Impact of Obesity
The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the United States was $147 billion in 2008. (= $196B in 2022)
Medical costs for people who had obesity was $1,429 higher than medical costs for people with healthy weight (2008)
- CDC.gov
Malnourishment in the U.S.
Vitamins are Important to our Immune Systems
- CDC.gov
We Americans Spend Inordinate Amounts of Time Indoors (and Staring at Screens)
> 90% of our time is spent indoors, not outdoors with Nature
10 hours and 39 minutes every day of screen time
- US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the U.S. NIH
Hypocrisy & Politicians: COVID-19 vs. Tobacco Education
Politicians have been all about “following CDC guidelines” during the COVID-19 pandemic. But why don’t politicians also invest CDC-recommended levels into tobacco education to save lives?
States have billions of dollars from the taxes they put on tobacco products and money from lawsuits against cigarette companies that they can use to prevent smoking and help smokers quit. Right now, though, the states only use a very small amount of that money to prevent and control tobacco use.
In fiscal year 2020, states will collect $27.2 billion from tobacco taxes and settlements in court but will only spend $740 million in the same year. That’s only 2.7% of it spent on programs that can stop young people from becoming smokers and help current smokers quit. Right now, not a single state out of 50 funds these programs at CDC’s “recommended” level. Only three states (Alaska, California, and Maine) give even 70% of the full recommended amount. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia spend less than 20% of what the CDC recommends. One state, Connecticut, gives no state funds for prevention and quit-smoking programs.
Spending 12% (about $3.3 billion) of the $27.2 billion would fund every state’s tobacco control program at CDC-recommended levels.
- CDC.gov
The Tobacco Industry spent $8.2B on marketing in 2019.
- CDC.gov
Total economic cost of smoking is more than $300 billion a year, including $170 billion in direct medical care for adults, $156 billion in lost productivity due to premature death and exposure to secondhand smoke.
- National Library of Medicine
We spend 8 Hours Every Single Day on our Phones or Watching Television
According to Nielsen’s latest Total Audience Report, Americans adults spend over four hours a day watching TV, still beating the three hours and 45 minutes they interact with their smartphone on an average day by roughly half an hour.
Americans spend $56 billion on sporting events. Half of that on books.
- CNBC.com
Global data, re: COVID-19 and obesity:
The World Obesity Federation research discovered 2.2 million of 2.5 million reported COVID-19 deaths worldwide, 88%, were in countries with high obesity rates.
Japan’s Dietary Habits vs. America’s
On average, Japanese people consume significantly less trans fat and 25 percent fewer calories than Americans. Japan’s adult obesity is 4.3%. Japanese men have less than one-third of the coronary disease as U.S. men, partially from consuming ample fish high in Omega-3. Japanese male smokers are nearly seven times less likely to develop lung cancer as U.S. male smokers. Japanese women are four to five times less likely to develop breast cancer as U.S. women. Japanese men have the world’s lowest prostate cancer rate attributed to diet.
The COVID-19 death rate is ten times higher in countries where 50%+ of the population is overweight.
The U.S. Declaration of Independence
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
References Cited in Natural Law
[1] Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, 1776
[2] The U.S. is the most obese nation in the developed world.
The United States is home to the highest number of overweight and obese people in the world.
In the U.S., 70.9% of men and 61.9% of women are overweight or obese, compared to 38% of men and 36.9% of women worldwide.
American Youth: 28.8% of boys and 29.7% of girls are overweight or obese in the U.S., compared to 14.2% of boys and 14.7% of girls worldwide.
[3] 76% of Americans Don’t Get Enough Exercise
As of 2017, only about 24% of Americans met the federal physical activity guidelines.
- Time.com
[4] Americans don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables.
In 2015 and 2019, only about one in ten adults met recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake.
Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help protect against a number of serious and costly chronic diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and obesity.
- CDC.gov
[5] The percentage of U.S. adults meeting fruit and vegetable intake recommendations is low.
In 2019, 12.3% and 10.0% of surveyed adults met fruit and vegetable intake recommendations, respectively.
A dietary including sufficient fruits and vegetables can help protect against some chronic conditions that are among the leading causes of mortality in the United States; some of tare also associated with more severe illness from COVID-19.
[6] 12.5% of American adults smoke cigarettes.
– CDC.gov
[7] The risk of severe COVID-19 illness increases sharply with elevated BMI.
Overweight, obesity or severe obesity can make you more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19.
- CDC.gov
[8] CDC: Adults with excess weight were at even greater risk during the COVID-19 pandemic:
Obesity increases the risk of severe illness from COVID-19. People who are overweight may also be at increased risk.
Obesity may triple the risk of hospitalization due to a COVID-19 infection.
Obesity is linked to impaired immune function.
Obesity decreases lung capacity and reserve and can make ventilation more difficult.
A study of COVID-19 cases suggests that risks of hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, invasive mechanical ventilation, and death are higher with increasing BMI.
The increased risk for hospitalization or death was particularly pronounced in those under age 65.
- CDC.gov
[9] Obesity emerged as a strong and independent risk factor for severe infection and death due to COVID-19.
[10] People with obesity who contracted SARS-CoV-2 were 113% more likely than people of healthy weight to land in the hospital, 74% more likely to be admitted to an ICU, and 48% more likely to die.
[11] Obesity was independently and strongly associated with hospitalization, need for oxygen therapy, higher viral load, and an altered immune response.
- US Military Health System (MHS)
[12] The CDC: 73% of deceased COVID-19 patients had obesity or were overweight.
[13] Among adults, 50.8% had obesity and 28.3% were overweight who received a COVID-19 diagnosis during an emergency department (ED) or inpatient visit at 238 U.S. hospitals during March–December 2020
[14] Obesity Prevalence in America: 42.4% in 2017-18
From 1999-2000 through 2017-18, obesity prevalence increased from 30.5% to 42.4%. During the same time, the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%.
- CDC.gov
[15] Obesity’s impact on our U.S. Military
31% of young Americans are too obese to serve.
[16] Natural Immunity Against COVID-19 from Prior Infection
Prior COVID-19 was associated with protection of 85% against any recurrent COVID-19, 88% against hospitalization for COVID-19, and 83% against COVID-19 not requiring hospitalization. Protection remained stable over the study period with no attenuation up to 9 months from initial infection.
Among 121,615 patients with more than 10 million days of follow-up, unvaccinated individuals with prior symptomatic COVID-19 had 85% lower risk of acquiring COVID-19 than unvaccinated individuals without prior COVID-19. Prior studies investigating protection against SARS-CoV-2 reinfection found similar results, with protection associated with natural immunity ranging from 80.5% to 100%.
This level of protection is similar to that reported for mRNA vaccines.
The findings that patients with prior COVID-19 had 88% protection against hospitalization for COVID-19 and 83% protection against COVID-19 not requiring hospitalization suggest that natural immunity was associated with similar protection against mild and severe disease. mRNA vaccines are associated with similar prolonged protection from severe
COVID-19, although vaccine-associated protection from mild COVID-19 has been shown to wane at 6 months.
- Journal of the American Medical Association Network
[17] Obesity’s Impact on our U.S. Military (cont.)
“A study in 2018 found 31 percent of Americans ages 17-24 would not qualify for military service due to obesity. The military spends $1.5 billion annually to treat obesity-related health conditions, including replacement of unfit troops. The CDC reports retired military officials disclosed insurmountable obstacles recruiting adequate soldiers over the last 10 years, stressing the health decline of today’s youth
as cause, also warning unless our nation achieves significant improvements in physical activity and nutrition, our military readiness will become endangered, and thus our national security.”