Lifestyle Medicine and Climate Change: The Role of Providers in Addressing a Public Health Challenge

2021 ◽  
pp. 155982762110170
Author(s):  
Adam Bernstein ◽  
David L. Katz
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Patient Engagement ◽  
Lifestyle Modification ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Lifestyle Medicine ◽  
Public Health Challenge ◽  
Car Travel ◽  
Medicine Community

Climate change threatens to undermine efforts to improve human health through lifestyle modification. Lifestyle medicine providers, however, may be well positioned to help patients create new healthful and climate-friendly habits, such as adopting a plant-based diet and limiting or eliminating car travel. Through each provider’s own example and patient engagement efforts, as well as though new technology and the collective action of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the broader lifestyle medicine community can play an outsized role in addressing climate change.

scholarly journals Australia’s 2020 summer shows our changed climate future - a public health preparedness challenge

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Hanna
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Public Health Preparedness ◽  
The Public ◽  
Environmental Determinants Of Health ◽  
National Capital ◽  
Public Health Challenge

Abstract Background Humans have wandered this planet for hundreds of thousands of years, yet in the last 160 years we have dramatically disrupted planetary systems upon which we depend. Humanity has polluted the oceans, rivers, air and soils. Our persistent burning of fossil fuels to power opulent lifestyles is now perilously close to permanently disrupting global climatic systems. Problem It is clear. The problem is us. Australia's summer of horrors provides a terrifying glimpse into our collective future. This rich and exquisitely advantaged nation has voted for governments that have ignored fragile ecosystems, dismantled environmental protection laws, ignored climate science and expanded its fossil fuel exploration, extraction, consumption and exportation. It has systematically silenced science, ignored its duty of care to protect its present and future citizenry. Evidence The 2019-2020 summer brought unprecedented disasters to a country familiar with disasters. After the hottest and driest year on record came the world's largest bushfire, which started in winter, and burned uncontainable for 7 months across 5 states. Billions of animals perished, thousands of homes & businesses destroyed, 33 people burned alive. Continental-wide temperatures of 42oC. Smoke levels exceeded hazardous levels by a factor of 25, lingered 6weeks in the national capital, circumnavigated the southern hemisphere. 80% of Australians were affected by the fires in some way, and the nation fell into a deep grief. The public health challenge As the world faces new climate regimes, the associated health challenges are elevating to unheralded and unforeseen levels. Public health preparedness for past situations will inevitably fail. Events are no longer singular, short lived or readily managed. Today's events are multifaceted, expansive and protracted. Their sheer magnitude and scale prevent response activities, interrupt transport and supply chains and shut down power and communications. Key messages Unfettered human development has degraded planetary systems upon which humanity depends for survival and flourishing. Climate change is disrupting all our key environmental determinants of health. Environmental degradation and climate change now present a rapidly intensifying health emergency. Australia’s summer of disasters demonstrates we need an explosion of public health preparedness.

scholarly journals Metabolic Syndrome: The Complex Relationship of Diet to Conditions of Disturbed Metabolism

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Bland
Keyword(s):  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Metabolic Syndrome ◽  
Clinical Studies ◽  
Inflammatory Responses ◽  
Lifestyle Modification ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Cardiovascular Disease Risk ◽  
Public Health Challenge ◽  
Relationship Of

The widespread prevalence and deleterious effects of metabolic syndrome have become a major public health challenge as it is associated with the development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Lifestyle modification focusing on diet has shown promise for managing cardiovascular disease risk, and clinical studies provide evidence that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with phytochemicals is a successful interventional approach. The role of phytochemicals in regulating gene expression and modulating intracellular kinase activity has only recently begun to be appreciated. Clinical studies investigating the effects of specific phytochemicals in metabolic syndrome patients have produced encouraging results, including normalization of metabolic function, reduction of cardiovascular risk, and resolution of metabolic syndrome. As research advances our understanding of the evolutionary relationships between plants and humans, details are emerging about the mechanisms by which phytochemicals regulate insulin signaling and inflammatory responses. This expanding field of research is likely to lead to novel, effective clinical approaches for combating chronic diseases such as metabolic syndrome.

History of Infectious Diseases

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Maria Ines Zanoli Sato
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Emerging Pathogens ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
History Of

This chapter provides a review of infectious disease to date and the challenges they may present in the future. The main pandemics that have driven the history of humanity are described, from the first to be recorded in 3180 BC to more recent ones such as AIDIS, SARS and others associated with emerging pathogens. The essential role of emerging scientific specialisms (particularly microbiology, public health and sanitary engineering) to our understanding of the causes of these diseases (and how they may be better monitored, controlled and prevented) is presented. Globalization and climate change, determining factors for the ecology of infectious diseases and their emergence and re-emergence, are discussed and point to the urgent need for research to deal with these threats that continue to have a significant impact on human development and wellbeing.

scholarly journals Role of primary care physicians in diabetes care in India

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
M. D. Abu Bashar ◽  
Nazia Begam
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Type 2 Diabetes ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Type 2 Dm ◽  
Public Health Challenge ◽  
Overweight Or Obesity

Diabetes is a major worldwide epidemic and a public health challenge of 21<sup>st</sup> century with &gt;415 million individuals living with the disease and this number is expected to grow to staggering 642 million by 2040. Of patients with this disease, 90% to 95% have type 2 DM. Factors contributing to this increase mainly of type 2 diabetes include an aging population, improved survival rates, and the increasing prevalence of overweight or obesity.

scholarly journals Overuse Injuries in Youth Sports: Legal and Social Responsibility

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Phoebe Friesen ◽  
Bethany Saul ◽  
Lisa Kearns ◽  
Kathleen Bachynski ◽  
Arthur Caplan
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Youth Sports ◽  
Overuse Injuries ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Health Challenge ◽  
Culpable Ignorance ◽  
Public Health Challenge ◽  
And Behaviors

Youth sports-related injuries represent a major public health challenge, and overuse injuries, which result from repetitive microtrauma and insufficient rest, are a particular and growing concern. Overuse injuries are increasingly prevalent within youth sports, can lead to lifelong disabilities, and are almost entirely preventable. We explore the question of whether parents, who have been shown to significantly influence their children’s sports experiences and behaviors, can be held responsible for overuse injuries. We also discuss the role of other actors, including medical practitioners and coaches, and the duties that they may have to prevent such injuries to child athletes. We argue that, in many cases, contributions to overuse injuries are the result of non-culpable ignorance, and that a better way to help prevent overuse injuries may be to enact policies that educate parents, as well as schools, coaches, and organizations, about overuse injuries.

scholarly journals Role of Gas6, TAM receptors ligand, in the pathogenesis of Zika virus infection

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leticia Cristina S. Monteiro ◽  
João Luiz da Silva Filho ◽  
Jose Luiz Proença Modena ◽  
Fabio T. M. Costa
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Virus Infection ◽  
Zika Virus ◽  
Zikv Infection ◽  
Neurological Sequelae ◽  
Tam Receptors ◽  
The World ◽  
Public Health Challenge

Zika virus (ZIKV) represents a public health challenge to Brazil and the rest of the world, especially because ZIKV infection has been linked to neurological sequelae, such as congenital fetal syndrome. Here, we aim to verify the role of Gas6 in the pathogenesis of ZIKV infection, by evaluating the expression of Gas6 and TAM receptors in patients infected by the virus with different degrees of disease severity, and infection of different human cells in vitro.

The role of microbiology in gonococcal control in the West: helping to understand the enemy

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
David J Speers
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Diagnostic Testing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Appropriate Treatment ◽  
Antimicrobial Management ◽  
Laboratory Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Challenge

Western Australia (WA), Australia's largest state by area, has one of the highest notification rates of gonorrhoea in the world. This is likely a reflection of the challenges of providing health services over a vast remote area combined with a unique set of sociocultural aspects. Despite this, microbiology can play a pivotal role in the public health management of gonorrhoea even if the primary health services are thousands of kilometres away from the laboratory. However, it requires new approaches to how diagnostic testing and laboratory surveillance are conducted and the repurposing of existing technologies to cater for novel demands. In this article I describe some of the microbiological approaches that have been undertaken in WA to help address the public health challenge of gonorrhoea. That is, facilitating the appropriate antimicrobial management of gonorrhoea in an era of increasing resistance to prevent treatment failure, timely provision of an accurate diagnosis to inform appropriate treatment, and providing molecular insights to better understand gonococcal transmission (Table 1).

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