Sapphire Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing of Central Queens on How Diet-Related Illnesses Are Becoming a Threat to National Security
- By Ady Fox
- •
- 26 Jul, 2020
Between the number of people eating an unhealthy diet and healthcare costs tripling over the past 40 years, experts are calling
the diet of most Americans a threat to national security.
Sapphire Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing of Central Queens explains the problem and what can be done about it.
According to the Federal Nutrition Research Advisory Group, poor nutrition and unhealthy diets are to blame for the deaths of over a half-million people each year.
Poor Diets Running Rampant
Overall, statistics show that 46% of adults in the United States have a poor-quality diet, with that number rising to 56% for children. The numbers are much worse for minorities and people living in rural or low-income communities.
How Poor Diets Turn Into a Healthcare Crisis
Poor diets breed chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes, which has led to an increase in healthcare spending from 6.9% (in 1979) to 17.7% (in 2018) of gross domestic product. This is being called a threat to national security because increases in healthcare spending affects overall government budgets and can lead to a decrease of spending in other areas, along with a downward trend in workers' overall wages.
Invest in Nutrition
The way out of this downward spiral is an increase in spending on the values of nutrition, especially in those rural and low-income areas because of the natural barriers that exist in those communities. Many assume that it costs money to eat well, but that's not necessarily the case. The advisory group is calling on Washington to create a U.S. Task Force on Federal Nutrition Research and a new National Institute of Nutrition as part of the existing National Institutes of Health.
To learn more about Sapphire Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing of Central Queens and all of the services they offer, visit
https://www.sapphirerehab.com/
