Colorado Center for
Environmental Medicine
Biological & Functional Medicine High in the Colorado Rockies
Over the past 20 years there has been a sudden and dramatic increase in virtually every chronic disease:
- Chronic diseases now affect 1 American out of 3
- Autism has increased 6000% (Fombonne et all, JAACAP, 2001), with 1 in 54 boys now having autism (National Children's Health Survey, 2007)
- ADHD has increased 400%, with 7x as many prescriptions being written (Swanson et al, Neuropsych Rev 2007)
- Asthma has increased 300%
- Allergies have increased 400%
- Diabetes has increased 103%, with 5 times as many cases of children less then age 5. It is estimated that 1 in 3 children born today will develop diabetes.
- Between 2.5 and 4.5 million people in the US now have Alzheimers, with 500,000 cases now in people younger then 65
- 20% of Americans (60 million people) have Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Over 10% of Americans have heartburn every day, with 25-30% of the population having reflux or GERD
- Heart disease now kills 1 in 3 Americans, but it wasn't always so. 100 years ago heart attacks were so rare that President Eisenhower's entire medical school class was called to see a man with a heart attack. They were told they might never see another again!
- Cancer has now passed heart disease as the leading cause of death, and 1 in 2 people can expect to get cancer in their lifetime.
"Despite advances in medicine occurring on a daily basis, physicians are slow to change
their practices. Many different interventions have been studied... (however) physicians
rely on a core knowledge base acquired in medical school and through subsequent
experiential learning. Much of what is practiced and taught in medicine is based on
plausible theory, but in some cases there is no direct evidence to support it.
Some practices are grandfathered in with no questioning as to the validity
of what is taught or practiced." JABFP 1999; 12(02): 1202-07.
