Friday 22 March 2013 - Something in the water?

I've been thinking a lot about the field of Health Promotion, which is what I would like to have a career in eventually, and it's a difficult job to take on. It involves finding a way of promoting healthy living which will inspire people to make healthy choices for themselves and their families day to day.

As part of the study for Health Sciences we are completing a course on Population Health (Epidemiology); which is basically the study of what causes illness in people across the population.

One of the first famous epidemiologists John Snow determined that an 1854 outbreak of cholera in London could be traced back to the water being consumed from a faulty water pump on Broad Street. The outbreak caused 616 deaths before the pump was disabled.

Nearly a century later three epidemiologists were investigating a possible cause for an observed increase in patients suffering from lung cancer, and heart disease. Their investigations led them to the conclusion that the increase in disease and death from these conditions was a result of tobacco smoking. Unlike Snows findings (which led to the removal of the cause of the disease, and a memorial in his honour) the work of these scientists was met with protest by the wealthy tobacco companies; and the severe implications of the studies initially suppressed.

Today we are all aware of the dangers of smoking, and it's role in causation of disease. Over five million deaths annually worldwide can be attributed to the habit; which when placed alongside the 616 casualties of the cholera outbreak gives us an idea of the seriousness of this situation.

But yet in this case we haven't stopped drinking the 'water'.

Imagine, for a minute, that it was in fact our tap water that was responsible for the two leading causes of preventable death in developed nations - smoking; and obesity. Would you be drinking it? Would you offer it to guests in your home? If you saw your child go to pour themselves a glass would you stop them? Would you seek alternatives for hydration?

Lung and Throat Cancer. Heart Disease. Stroke. Don't drink from that tap. Choose a long and healthy life. Stop smoking, eat nutritional food and exercise. It's as simple as that.