In a previous notes, a brief outline of health benefits & risk of plant-based diets were noted. In this note, diet related chronic diseases & their managements is outlined briefly.

There are several chronic diseases that are directly related to diet choices. A WHO report list the following nutrition-related chronic diseases:

• Obesity: This is caused by energy expenditure imbalance due inactivity and consumption of high calories diet (eg. Sugar, starches, fat, etc).
• Diabetes: It is often caused by excess weight, obesity & physical inactivity. Diabetes is the precursor of other chronic diseases like heart diseases, kidney problems & stroke.
• Cardiovascular diseases: This is known to occur to due unbalanced diet & physical inactivities.
• Cancer: Use of tobacco is the major cause of cancer but some dietary choices are also known to contribute to some type of cancers.
• Osteoporosis & bone fractures: This is caused by inadequate intake of calcium and vitamin D. This is common occurrence in older people.
• Dental Diseases: This is caused by intake of sugars lack of fluoride.

There other chronic conditions that are natural result of aging. Common risk factor of these conditions include smoking, inactivity, obesity & drinking. In a recent publication, researchers Irene Mary Rea and others list atherosclerosis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, and aging as the major age-related diseases. The diabetes & cancer are defined in previous section, other four diseases are described below:

• Atherosclerosis: It is caused by narrowing of an artery due to the build up of plaque. This generally starts at young but becomes more severe with age. When severe, it may cause artery diseases, stroke, kidney problem. Healthy diet, physical activities, not smoking help reduce its risk.
• Alzheimer’s disease: This disease is called chronic neurodegenerative disease starts early develops with age. This is main cause dimentia (or brain damage). Its cause is poorly understood & has no known cure.
• Rheumatoid arthritis: This is a autoimmune disorder affects joints causing pains. Its known cause is not understood.
• Aging: Aging itself known to be a chronic problem in old age. It represents cumulative changes occurring over time and its one of the major risk factor of human being. Its cause is unknown.

How to Manage?

Almost all chronic diseases are preventable by simple healthy lifestyle & dietary choices. The CDC recommends following guides to manage most chronic diseases:

• Quite smoking: Quitting smoking (never smoking) lowers the risk of cancer, diabetes, type 2 diabetes & lung diseases.
• Eat healthy: Eating healthy food (eg. plant-based) prevent or delay heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Reduction in intake of salt, saturated and trans fats help reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases.
• Regular physical activity: Daily moderate level of physical activity helps to prevent or delay chronic diseases like cancers, obesity, diabetes, and others.
• Avoid excessive drinking: Avoid heavy drinking alcohol to lower the risk of high blood pressure, cancers, cancer & liver diseases.
• Get enough sleep: At least 7hrs of daily is sleep is known to better manage diabetes, heart diseases, obesity & depression.
• Get regular check up: This especially important with people with history of chronic diseases.
• Make healthy choices: Make healthy life style choice as high priority to lower the risk of chronic diseases.

To sum up, plant-based diet, moderate physical activities, making healthy choices help reduce the risk of and towards managing chronic diseases for longer & healthier lifestyle.

Cover photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash