If you have ever found your car keys in the fridge, or driven back home because you swore you left your coffee mug on the counter but later found it on your desk, could you be presenting with symptoms of early onset Alzheimer’s disease?
Alzheimer’s is just one form of Dementia. Listen to this Seon 180 podcast featuring Grenadian Dr Kester Nedd. The topic is personal for host Leslie-Ann Seon, as her mother had Vascular Dementia. It’s also relevant to me because my maternal grandmother had Alzheimer’s.
In this Jamaica Observer article, Jamaica’s Minister for Health & Wellness Hon. Dr Christopher Tufton advocates for more focus to be placed on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
Dr Tufton cited the most recent Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey (JHLS III) revealed that one in three Jamaicans has hypertension, one in two is overweight or obese, and one in eight has diabetes.”
This statistic is likely the same for some, and perhaps all, other Caribbean countries.
The article goes on to state that “”The minister contended that this points to an NCD crisis and asserted that “as a matter of urgency, we must drive the NCD agenda forward… we must challenge systems and approaches that do not yield results and be willing to think outside the box”.”
The economic problem is real. The burden placed on healthcare, as well as expenses patients face to treat these preventable (in most cases) diseases is real, and utilizes scarce resources.
What if more of the Ministry’s resources, plus some from the Education Ministry, were used to develop and institute a better education programme to tackle all areas of health and wellness? Education should also include food manufacturers. I heard one CEO of a baking company refer to one of their new products as “healthy.” The nutrition data would prove that to be incorrect, given the amount of sugar it contains.
I harp on education because of my own experience. About 2 decades ago, I was very obese and decided to do something about it. A rigorous exercise programme and modification to my diet, led to a 38 pound weight loss in 8 months. At the time, I was very pleased with that result, but having better educated myself since 2016 about food and its effect on hormones and physiology, I realize I could have lost twice the amount of weight. The mistake was thinking that the big bowl of fruit and low fat yogurt, or oats I was eating for breakfast back then, was healthy. I repeat what I said in the previous paragraph: the nutrition data would prove that to be incorrect, given the amount of sugar it contains.
Steel cut oats with ripe banana and walnuts
So Minister Tufton, let’s have a rethink about an education programme, with a strong nutrition component, to tackle NCDs and get Jamaicans off their medications. And be sure to include educating our doctors and nurses. When I hear stories if some doctors giving their diabetic patients more insulin, rather than directing them to remove from their diet, what causes their glucose levels to rise, then I know that they need education too.
Implementing a sugar tax on companies who manufacture and/or sell unhealthy foods, is for another post.
