Healthy Future US Blog

We need to consider American core values and competences, before we can judge whether the USA should follow Sweden’s example.  We highly value human life.  We are very good at figuring out how to “manage” diseases on a large scale— given enough time (and at very high cost).  So we are trying desperately to postpone coronavirus spread until we can treat very high numbers of patients effectively.  “ Proning ” is one recent example, now remdesivir is another, of strategies that took us time to figure out, but which were worth waiting for.  And a recent study implies significant potential to re-purpose existing drugs and compounds quickly against COVID-19. Of course, the ultimate solution is a vaccine--and both Dr. Fauci & Bill Gates, who are normally quite cautious, have recently expressed optimism on rapid availability. Unfortunately, for decades we have grossly neglected to exercise our core competence in prevention, beyond tobacco.  We reduced US smoking by ⅔--but then d

There has been a lot of talk about using the “Swedish model” to more aggressively “re-open” the US economy.   We have to be realistic about what we can learn from a country as different as Sweden: it’s a bit like comparing a fast-food drive-thru to a smorgasbord.   For example, only about 20% of Americans are active in sports compared to about half of Swedes--this has a huge impact on underlying health, but unfortunately we are a long way from closing that gap. We have known for months--and was anyone really surprised?-- that underlying chronic disease appears to dramatically increase COVID-19 hospitalization & mortality.   Per OECD data, the USA has 2x worse diabetes prevalence than Sweden, and is 1.5x Sweden on overweight/obesity (undoubtedly even worse, when severity of obesity is considered).  In addition, Sweden has greater public trust in government & therefore more voluntary policy compliance.  Sweden has also had a 5x higher pandemic death rate than severa

Widespread child obesity, i.e., continual inactivity & unhealthy nutrition in childhood, turns out to be even more dangerous than previously thought--now that we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.   The New York Times recently described several studies showing the  high risks facing obese young adults   from coronavirus infection.   (This is in addition to the  shocking news last year from Johns Hopkins , that obesity will soon replace smoking as the biggest preventable cause of cancer!) Child health habits turn into lifelong destiny: the vast majority of children who are  obese, remain so as adults . And it gets worse: for about half of children who are obese,  child obesity turns into teen severe obesity . This dangerous trend continues later in life: by 2030,  almost 1/3 lower-income adults are expected , "with high predictive accuracy," to be severely obese ( >75 lbs. overweight). If there is any good news from the pandemic...perhaps it w