Volume 26, Issue 1
WisconsinChristianNews.com
Page 25
The Western Diet” — Ravaging American Health
By GreenMedInfo Research Group April 2025 In the United States, the prevalence of diet-related chronic diseases has reached epidemic proportions. According to the Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention, six in ten Americans live with at least one chronic disease, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, or diabetes. These conditions are among the leading causes of death and disability in the country, and they share a common thread: they are often linked to poor dietary habits. At the heart of this dietary crisis lies the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods, a hallmark of the Western diet. A 2017 study published in the journal Population Health Metrics revealed a startling statistic: nearly 60% of the average American's caloric in- take comes from ultra-processed foods. Conventional approaches to treating diet-related chronic diseases often in- volve a combination of medication, lifestyle changes, and dietary modifica- tions. While these strategies can be ef- fective, they often address the symptoms rather than the root cause of the problem. Moreover, adherence to these treatment regimens can be chal- lenging for many patients, leading to suboptimal outcomes. Sayer Ji, founder of GreenMedInfo.com, argues that health authorities are missing the bigger pic- ture. He states, “It could be argued that the CDC would be far more effective in their mission of ‘Collaborating to create the expertise, information, and tools that people and communities need to protect their health’ if they paid equal attention tracking dietary vectors of disease cre- ation, such as per capita high-fructose corn syrup or happy meal consumption, or environmental chemical exposures, instead of myopically fixating on an out- dated, though hugely profitable germ- centered model of disease causation.” Recent research has begun to shed
light on the Western diet not just as a con- tributor to poor health, but as a potent dis- ease vector in its own right. Ji’s research at GreenMedInfo.com has identified over 20 distinct disease states or adverse health ef- fects linked to the Western diet, including various lethal cancers. Some of the condi- tions linked to the Western diet include: Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Colon Can- cer, Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Liver Disease, Neurodegenerative Diseases and Type 1 Diabetes. The impact of the Western diet on health can be swift and dramatic. Ji highlights a human clinical study where “participants were given a regular, all-American meal of a hamburger, quickly resulting in pathological changes to the blood vessels including vaso- constriction, oxidative stress and inflamma- tion.” Interestingly, the addition of avocado
to the meal mitigated these adverse effects, suggesting that simple dietary modifications could have significant health impacts. The identification of the Western diet as a disease vector represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of chronic disease eti- ology. Ji argues that “the concept that im- mune status determines susceptibility, or the vital role that diet or environmental fac- tors such as sunlight-mediated vitamin D levels play in whether you contract an ill- ness or not, is mostly ignored” by health authorities. This perspective aligns with recent find- ings on ultra-processed foods, particularly sodas. As Jinan Banna, a registered die- titian and professor of nutrition at the Uni- versity of Hawaii, emphasizes, “Soda doesn’t have any nutritional value other than just calories in the form of sugar. So
they’re empty calories, which don’t give us any of the nutrients that we need.” The Western diet, characterized by high intake of processed foods, sugary bever- ages, and refined grains, appears to create an internal environment conducive to dis- ease development. As Ji poetically puts it,
“The inner ‘soil’ will largely determine what grows there. If it is organic, nutrient replete, non-toxic, it will give rise to health. If it is de- void of the correct nutrients, overly-cooked, irradiated, infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, etc., it will give rise to disease.”
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