The Health Philosophy of Most Americans is Warped

I was recently screened as part of a Health Evaluation Program provided by my employer. As part of the program, participants are given a personal health score based on a health index developed by the wellness company that conducts the screening.

The score is designed to help each participant understand where he/she stands for future risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and type II diabetes – leading causes of premature death and disability in the US.  The score is comprised of five modifiable risk factors: tobacco use, blood glucose, blood pressure, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol – all potential causes of serious health problems.   The stated purpose of the health score is to help participants identify medical risks that can be improved, therefore increasing chances for a healthy future.

This seems reasonable. Yes?

The stated objective is for each participant to keep his/her personal health score between 0 and -20 (the lower the score the better)

I was delighted, though not surprised, to receive a score of -20. Although it’s very difficult to precisely quantify individual risks for chronic disease, I initially thought that the criteria included in the health index can be expected to provide a reasonably accurate assessment of future risk for developing CAD and/or type II diabetes.

However, upon further reflection, I realized that this health index has one major flaw – it does not include information on medications taken by participants.

The best way to illustrate this flaw is by creating a hypothetical situation where another 54 year old guy (John Doe) was screened on the same day as me and his screening results were identical to mine. This guy would have also received a health score of -20. Therefore, if this was a competition, he and I would have tied. This guy would have achieved his -20 score even if he was taking a gorilla dose of a statin drug, some diabetes and blood pressure medications and perhaps some other common medications, such as meds for gastroesphogeal reflux, constipation, depression etc..  Therefore, he required chemical assistance to achieve the illusion of health. By definition, he cannot remotely be considered healthy. Yet he would have received the highest personal health score possible.

What’s wrong with this picture?

My thoughts:

My competitior’s high personal health score is the result of a twisted view of what constitutes health – a view that appears to be held by the majority of Americans. This shouldn’t be surprising as most visits to a physician usually result in the patient leaving with a prescription. If the prescription is for a drug meant to treat a chronic disease, it’s often a drug that the patient is told that he/she will have to take for the rest of his/her life. This fact, and the current reality of Americans being constantly urged to ask their doctor about the latest miracle drug advertised on television and in magazines ,has successfully created a distorted view of health in America.

Most Americans are told that in order to be healthy, you must schedule various tests/screenings based on recommended guidelines. If these tests reveal a diagnoses of CAD , Cancer, or type II diabetes, the magic carpet ride of drugs, surgeries and procedures begins.   Health is rarely recaptured – what results is a patient who remains sick and gets used to carrying around what eventually becomes an increasing number of medications. Medications are often added to treat new symptoms created by the initial medications.

Is this the best we can do?   I don’t think so.   The paradigm for preventing and treating chronic disease has to change to treating the cause of disease rather than the symptoms.

The main cause of the chronic diseases that afflict Americans is what they eat on a regular basis – a diet dominated with animal and highly processed foods.

The paradigm of promoting people to:

• transition to a Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) diet
• begin or maintain a reasonable exercise regimen and
• avoid unhealthy habits

is the focus of lifestyle medical doctors.  As more and more physicians begin specializing in lifestyle medicine, more and more patients will be informed that they can truly recapture their health and will be encouraged to do so.

I’m afraid this paradigm change will take a long time to occur. The medical and pharmaceutical industries that benefit from the current treatment paradigm of drugs and procedures do a masterful job at keeping the known benefits of WFPB diets from the public. The economic might of these industries is hard to fight and is the main reason the American philosophy on health is so warped.

This philosophy allows a wellness company to use a health index that can conclude that John Doe has the same personal health score as me. If my employer offered a monetary prize for all 50 to 54 year olds who achieve the highest possible health score, but the money came from a pool from which all perfect scorers would share, I’d be pissed off.