Overview

Guarding Human Health

The main objective of the book is to investigate important factors that affect our health and longevity, such as environmental pollution, nutrition, and various non-communicable diseases, in particular the current obesity crisis that only started to become vividly visible in the last 4 decades or so. Perhaps the most significant aspect of this book is in the elucidation of the aforementioned factors not in isolation, but rather in connection with each other, to provide a more precise portrait of a much bigger picture that cannot be seen in a great majority of books or publications. Also, to be comprehensive and to be able to show the connectivity and big picture, many interdisciplinary themes have been deliberated.  

Never in the history of humankind has obesity increased with such an unprecedented and alarming rate, not only in the United States where it is the highest recorded in human history, but also around the globe. The current obesity crisis is a human health tragedy that has brought an avalanche of adverse health effects including an epidemic of various chronic and non-communicable diseases, such as type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The negative impact of the current obesity pandemic on societies in terms of human loss and suffering, loss of productivity, and the huge burden on the healthcare system, not only is extremely incapacitating, but is also beyond human comprehension.

According to various sources, currently, about 70% of Americans are either obese or overweight. Based on a very recent forecast, about 50% of the United States population will probably be obese by 2030. Similarly, obesity among children and adolescents has increased dramatically. Sadly, about one third of U.S. children are overweight or obese, and regrettably, a vast majority of obese children will become obese grownups. There is also an obesity epidemic among infants six months old or younger, an age group where lifestyle, food choices, lack of exercise, and genes cannot scientifically explain this tragic outcome.

Based on evidence from extensive studies, the human diet has changed dramatically in the last several decades through corporate agriculture and food manufacturing. As a result, not only is the human diet for the most part macro and micro-nutritionally unbalanced, but also, we have severely poisoned our foods and polluted the environment along the way. This unbalanced and toxic diet is now portraying itself as an obesity pandemic which is irrefutable and omnipresent.