Column #240

We’re all at risk and it’s not just the virus. There’s no question that this pandemic fiasco has turned our domestic world upside down. That’s in spite of the fact that, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, “The United States was ranked the best-prepared country in the world to handle a pandemic in late 2019.” The assessment involved a list of 195 countries.

Over all the 324-page report didn’t paint an encouraging picture of global readiness. It concluded that “National health security is fundamentally weak around the world,” and that “No country is fully prepared for epidemics or pandemics, and every country has important gaps to address.”¹

So here we are with a COVID-19 pandemic that is having ramifications that reach far beyond just making people sick. As it progressed “gaps” were exposed everywhere. As for who is at greatest risk from the disease, the March 24, 2020, Bloomberg article titled: “99% of Those Who Died From Virus Had Other Illness, Italy Says” spells out what we’ve known from the getgo. Most deaths are associated with older people who are saddled with one or more chronic diseases. That underscores what we must personally do to protect ourselves. Obviously chronic conditions endanger longevity in more ways than we can imagine. What’s good to know is that chronic conditions are highly associated with unhealthy diets—which we can control.²

As a share of total deaths in Italy, only 0.8% involved patients without a major illness, pathology, or comorbidity like heart disease, diabetes, a history of cancer, or asthma. Roughly half of the deaths involved individuals with three or more such complications, suggesting only specific populations are at mortal risk from the virus. The average age of those who have died in Italy is 79.5 with only a small fraction under the age of 50. All COVID-19 victims under 40 were males with serious existing medical conditions.

To date, these simple facts from Italy are warnings which everyone who is proactive can turn into a positive message. That’s because heart disease, diabetes, cancer, asthma, and obesity are afflictions most folks can address. The majority of chronic diseases are not caused by growing old. They are not caused by genetic flaws. Most are caused by people abusing their bodies by stressing them with bad habits, dangerous activities, and/or by eating foods that cause nutrient deficiencies or imbalances.

Here are some excerpted comments from a 2008 report by Artemis P. Simopoulos, one of the world’s foremost nutritional researchers with The Center for Genetics, Nutrition and Health, Washington, DC 20009.
●    “. . . information suggest that human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA) of ~1:1 whereas in Western diets the ratio is 15:1 to 16.7:1.
●    “Western diets are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, and have excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids compared with the diet on which human beings evolved and their genetic patterns were established.
●    “Excessive amounts of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and a very high omega-6/omega-3 ratio, as is found in today’s Western diets, promote the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, whereas increased levels of omega-3 PUFA (a lower omega-6/omega-3 ratio), exert suppressive effects.
●    “In the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, a ratio of 4:1 was associated with a 70% decrease in total mortality. A ratio of 2.5:1 reduced rectal cell proliferation in patients with colorectal cancer, whereas a ratio of 4:1 with the same amount of omega-3 PUFA had no effect. The lower omega-6/omega-3 ratio in women with breast cancer was associated with decreased risk.
●    “A ratio of 2:1 to 3:1 suppressed inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and a ratio of 5:1 had a beneficial effect on patients with asthma, whereas a ratio of 10:1 had adverse consequences.
●    “These studies indicate that the optimal ratio may vary with the disease under consideration. This is consistent with the fact that chronic diseases are multigenic and multifactorial. Therefore, it is quite possible that the therapeutic dose of omega-3 fatty acids will depend on the degree of severity of disease resulting from the genetic predisposition. A lower ratio of omega-6/omega-3 fatty acids is more desirable in reducing the risk of many of the chronic diseases of high prevalence in Western societies, as well as in the developing countries.”³

Her information is not new. It’s been known for decades yet it’s ignored by the mainstream. She says an EFA ratio of less than 2:1 “is more desirable in reducing the risk of many of the chronic diseases of high prevalence in Western societies.” The low ratio “suppressed inflammation” of arthritic conditions, “had a beneficial effect” on asthma, “was associated with a 70% decrease in total mortality” as  a “secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.” Hello everyone! Doesn’t that sound like a solution?

And, most importantly in regards to our war with COVID-19, she said high ratios “promote the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.” She could also say that if you have heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and asthma and come down with COVID-19, your odds of dying skyrocket. Poor immunity is the reason for high death rates for those stricken with COVID-19. There is no doubt that food impacts our health. This is why I say that as individuals we have some control over our chronic disease destiny because we can take steps to improve our immunity.

In the past six weeks or so the fear factor has been ramped up in America to levels I’ve never witnessed before. Panic has driven many people to be quite irrational. Even some leaders are taking steps that increase our overall jeopardy. Fear is one of the most effective weapons for enslaving free people. The cries of “pandemic, shortages, poor leadership, piles of dead people, soaring new cases,” and other wild statements are effective weapons that can psychologically weaken the resistance of individuals vulnerable to irrational and impressionistic mindsets.

In a world heavily conditioned by the proclamations of the mass media, the fear weapon has huge psychological power. People, even the healthiest amongst us, are being locked up in their homes and many are not encouraged to get outside for fresh air! Businesses have been forced to close, millions of people laid off, and social connections have been shattered. The stress from all this can lead to increasing incidences of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, strokes, thromboses, depression, alcoholism, drug use, and suicide. The psychological burden of being locked up can even cause some marriages and families to break up.

There’s also the threat of an economic debt collapse triggered by the political reaction to COVID-19. This could wipe out our country’s high standard of living—except for government employees? And that can lead to more central planning which some sectors of our political spectrum are calling for daily.

It’s really difficult keeping everything in perspective with all the “alarming, breaking news.” Even Bloomberg can’t get updated hospitalization figures from New York City because they are updated only sporadically. City hospitals haven’t been disclosing their occupancy or their data on intensive care units and life-saving ventilators.⁴

Social distancing is helping for sure. But at some point in the next 30 days our nation has to power back up and get on with life. So far, since February 29 (28 days), there have been a total of 1,513 COVID-19 deaths in the USA. Yet just yesterday alone 1,750 people died from heart diseases and the same number dies everyday. So far during the 2019-2020 flu season, there have been 45 million flu illnesses, at least 300,000 hospitalizations, and up to 46,000 deaths, of which more than 100 are pediatric--a higher total at this point of the year than any season in the past decade. And our nation didn’t shut down for the flu.^{5 6}

After the current period of social distancing slowly tapers off around the country, the people that need to be isolated are not everyone, but those most vulnerable and those diagnosed as positive. It’s easier isolating a few than it is an entire country. Then the rest of us must practice healthy eating and being proactive with our health. By far, most of the Americans that are catching COVID-19 hardly realize it. The same happens with the flu. That’s why there has to be a practical balance in this war or our government dictated cure will be worse than the disease.

We have our marching orders. Be safe and pay attention to what you eat. Get proper rest, fresh air, exposure to the sun, along with some exercise. Be very careful about letting external events and “breaking news” ramp up your stress levels. Stay rational. Spring is coming and early indications are that COVID-19 will not be active with higher temperatures and humidity. And we can be thankful that we’ve learned a valuable lesson about what readiness means when it comes to pandemics. That’s why I believe our country will continue to rank high in preparedness and it will be real preparedness not relative preparedness. Few of us will forget this lesson.⁷

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

Don’t miss these links for additional reading:

1. Here’s the Johns Hopkins Study President Trump Referenced in His Coronavirus News Conference from John Hopkins Magazine

2. 99% of Those Who Died From Virus Had Other Illness, Italy Says by, Chiara Remondini and Marco Bertacche from Bloomberg

3. The Importance of the Omega-6/Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio in Cardiovascular Disease and Other Chronic Diseases by A. P. Simopoulos, PhD

4. Mapping New York City Hospital Beds as Coronavirus Cases Surge by Caleb Melby, Jackie Gu and Mira Rojanasakul from Bloomberg

5. Coronavirus Cases from WorldOMeter

6. Flu Update: New March 2020 Numbers Are In from Rochester Regional Health

7. New Food Analysis Tables by Ted Slanker

Omega 3 Test use slanker as an offer code and save

Ted Slanker’s Omega-3 Blood Test