Diseases Of Affluence

Information about Diseases Of Affluence

Diseases of affluence are those diseases which are thought to be a result of increasing wealth in a society, in contrast to Diseases of poverty which result from impoverishment.

Examples

They are thought to include Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, obesity, certain forms of cancer, autoimmune diseases, asthma, alcoholism, depression and possibly a range or majority of other psychiatric illnesses.

Communicable vs. non-communicable diseases

Some of these illnesses are inter-related, for example obesity is thought to be a partial cause of many other illnesses. They are characterised as being non-communicable diseases, whereas the diseases of poverty tend to be largely communicable either through infection, poor public or environmental health provision, or poor hygiene.

The trend is for these diseases to become more prevalent as starvation and diseases of poverty decline, and as longevity increases. Policy makers are sometimes criticised on sociological grounds for failing to deal with the fact that development could be seen as self-defeating if it means exchanging one set of diseases for another.

Possible causes of the diseases of affluence

Factors associated with the increase of these illnesses appear to be, paradoxically, things which many people would regard as improvements in their lives. They include:

Increased use of the car
Less strenuous physical exercise
Easy accessibility in society to large amounts of low-cost food (relative to the much-lower caloric food availability in a subsistence economy)
More food generally, with much less physical exertion expended to obtain a moderate amount of food
More high fat and high sugar foods in the diet are common in the affluent developed economies of the late-twentieth century
More foods which are processed, cooked, and commercially provided (rather than seasonal, fresh foods prepared locally at time of eating)[1]
Increased leisure time
Prolonged periods of inactivity
Greater use of alcohol and tobacco
Longer life-spans
Reduced exposure to infectious agents throughout life
Greater use of antibiotics and vaccines

External links

The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking.

For the business meaning, see .

Wealth from the old English word "weal", which means "well-being" or "welfare". The term was originally an adjective to describe the possession of such qualities.
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Diseases of poverty are diseases that overwhelmingly affect the poor; in many cases poverty is the leading risk factor for incidence of such disease, and some disease can (or allegedly) cause poverty.
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Diabetes mellitus type 2 (formerly called diabetes mellitus type II, non insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM), obesity related diabetes, or adult-onset diabetes) is a metabolic disorder that is primarily characterized by insulin resistance, relative insulin deficiency, and
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Coronary heart disease
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 I20-I25
ICD-9 410 - 414 , 429.2

Coronary heart disease (CHD), also called coronary artery disease (CAD), ischaemic heart disease, atherosclerotic heart disease, is the end result
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MeSH D002561 Cerebrovascular disease is any disease by which the arteries in the brain, or are connected to the brain, are defective. Primarily people whom are diabetic or have related issues have cerebrovascular disease.
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In medicine, peripheral artery occlusive disease (PAOD, also known as peripheral vascular disease (PVD) and peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a collator for all diseases caused by the obstruction of large peripheral arteries, which can result from atherosclerosis,
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Obesity
Classification & external resources

Silhouettes representing healthy, overweight, and obese.
ICD-10 E 66.
ICD-9 278

DiseasesDB 9099
MedlinePlus 003101
eMedicine med/1653

MeSH C23.888.144.699.
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MeSH D001327 Autoimmunity is the failure of an organism to recognize its own constituent parts (down to the sub-molecular levels) as "self", which results in an immune response against its own cells and tissues.
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Asthma
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 J 45.
ICD-9 493

OMIM 600807
DiseasesDB 1006
MedlinePlus 000141
eMedicine med/177 emerg/43

MeSH C08.127.
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For the song by Starsailor, see .

Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions. In common and historic usage, alcoholism refers to any condition that results in the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages despite the
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Depression
Classification & external resources

ICD-10 F 32. , F 33.
ICD-9 296

OMIM 608516
DiseasesDB 3589
MedlinePlus 003213
eMedicine med/532

Clinical depression (also called major-depressive disorder, or
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A non-communicable disease or NCD is a disease which is not infectious. Such diseases may result from genetic or lifestyle factors. Those resulting from lifestyle factors are sometimes called diseases of affluence.
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Economic systems

Ideologies and Theories
Primitive communism
Capitalist economy
Corporate economy
Fascist economy
Laissez-faire
Mercantilism
Natural economy
Social market economy
Socialist economy
Communist economy

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In 1948, in its constitution, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" ^[1].
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Physical exercise is manual activity that develops or maintains physical fitness and overall health. It is often practiced to strengthen muscles and the cardiovascular system, and to hone athletic skills.
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Nutrition is a science that examines the relationship between diet and health. Dietitians are health professionals who specialize in this area of study, and are trained to provide safe, evidence-based dietary advice and interventions.
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The China Project is an ongoing extensive study that explores the correlation between disease epidemiology and dietary intake patterns in many provinces of China.

Funding and dates of the project

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Urbanization or Urbanisation (see difference in spelling) means the removal of the rural characteristics of a town or area, a process associated with the development of civilisation.
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Westernization is a process whereby non-western societies come under the influence of "Western culture" in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet, religion or values.
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