Our personal survival kit

None of us know exactly when we are going to die, but we actually have a good idea of what we are likely to die of. For westerners, or at least persons eating a western diet, and living a sedentary western life, the 15 most common causes of death in 2004 according to the CDC Division of Vital Statistics were:
1. Heart disease 28.5%
2. Malignant neoplasms (cancer) 22.8%
3. Cerebrovascular diseases (stroke) 6.7%
4. Chronic lower respiratory diseases 5.1%
5. Accidents (unintentional injuries) 4.4%
6. Diabetes mellitus (diabetes) 3%
7. Alzheimer’s disease 2.6%
8. Influenza and pneumonia 2.4%
9. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis (kidney disease) 1.7%
10. Septicemia 1.4%
11. Intentional self-harm (suicide)
12. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
13. Essential (primary) hypertension and hypertensive renal disease (hypertension);
14. Parkinson’s disease;
15. Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids.

Interestingly most of these people are dying of illnesses that were caused by lifestyles that were relatively less sedentary than people are today. So might these statistics be considered normal for people whom have a more active life than normal? I actually think these statistics might be hiding something because they include people dying of age 110yo, when I think we would all like to have that choice. But aren’t we more concerned with what people are dying of ‘prematurely’? I’d like to know what people are dying of between 50-75yo, as anything over that strikes me as beyond my useful life.
It would seem incumbent upon all of us to learn how we can prevent these common causes of death, and better still helpful if we could get clear information as far as dietary advice on packaging and from health professionals, now and during schooling so good habits are adopted early. Of course some countries are already doing this…but it should be universal. Staying in the Philippines, it seems commonplace for people to eat fast food 2-3 times a day. The result is high blood cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension and likely premature death without change.
Next I will look at just one of these illnesses – stroke.