Asthma
It is currently one of the most common diseases in the civilized world. But did you know that despite all of our medical advances, the occurrence, as well as complications and deaths related to asthma have skyrocketed? Asthma is more common than it used to be, and it's also more severe. Since 1980, the death rates for asthma have increased by more than 50% [1] In fact, asthma deaths were considered rare in the early 1900's [2]. So what changed?
There were three major changes:
First, our world became more toxic. The effects of industrialization had taken its toll on our air, water and food. Additionally, we began to manufacture food-like substances to replace real food. These food-like substances are full of chemicals and preservatives, which had an unknown effect on the human body.
Second, we replaced saturated animal fats with hydrogenated vegetable oils and trans-fatty acids. This was a double whammy on our lungs. We removed the substance it relied most heavily on to function properly (saturated fat) and gave it a replacement fat full of toxins and unknown substances that it now had to deal with.
Third, medications like bronchodilators and other inhalers were invented. This forces the airways open against the body's desire to close off an area to allow for lung repair. Before medication were invented, asthma rarely caused death and was generally considered a benign condition. To find out more about the root cause of asthma, and how the body works, check out my new video below!
References: [1] http://www.asthmamd.org/asthma-statistics/ [2] http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1164/rccm.200402-185OE