How do we fight chronic disease killers? | Ciarán Nicholl | TEDxVareseSalon

Nowadays, in Europe, 86% of deaths are due to chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes. The increase in longevity has not been accompanied by an increase in the conditions of wellbeing. What can we do to improve the situation? According to Ciarán Nicholl, every one of us can take the initial important step, and the keyword is prevention.

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I’m from Ireland.

I grew up in the Lake District in Ireland.

And here we are in the Lake District -

in Italy.

I grew up with six brothers;
we are one of seven sons.

Our mother was a teacher,
our father a musician,

and we lived on a fifty-acre farm.

Now, the reason I’m telling you this story

is because back then
there was a certain way of life

that I would like you
to capture in your mind

and hold onto it throughout this talk.

We grew our own food;
it was natural, homegrown.

Wild fish ran through the river.

We were good at catching them.

We still are.

Every animal had a name.

The cows had names.

They lived in the nature.

They provided us with meat and milk.

Nutrition.

How about lifestyle?

The farmers were busy
from early morning, in the afternoon,

and they worked physically
until after sunset.

I want to leave that with you,
and I want to talk about health.

And more specifically,
chronic disease killers.

Okay, the reality is, today in Europe,

over 86 percent of deaths
are due to chronic disease.

These people are living devastating lives;

their loved ones, suffering.

It's a terrible situation.

In fact, by the time I finish this talk,

12 people in Europe will have died
because of chronic disease.

Chronic disease deaths are premature.

But yet, we are living longer;
the longevity line is going up.

But how about the quality-of-life line?

The quality-of-life line
is not staying with the longevity line.

What it means is that people
spend maybe up to 20 years in poor health

before they die prematurely.

Oh yes, we're busy talking
about terrorist attacks, aviation safety,

the weather, the economic situation.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

It’s time to talk about that.

Okay, it is now time to introduce you
to these chronic disease killers,

chronic disease killers
that lie within each and every one of us -

let’s make no mistake about it.

So, number one chronic disease killer -
cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease
claims 40 percent of lives in Europe,

and by the way, these numbers
are similar - maybe even worse -

throughout the rest of our planet.

Let's take number two: cancer.

Cancer is a disease
involving abnormal growth

which invades and takes over the body.

We all know about formidable cancer.

In the European Commission,

we have the European
Cancer Information System,

and we can tell you
that this year, in Europe,

there will be 3.9 million
new cases of cancer.

Over 1.9 million people will die.

Let’s take number three:

diabetes.

Diabetes is a group of metabolic disorders

which involve high levels of sugar
in the bloodstream

over prolonged periods of time.

Ladies and gentlemen,
they are the three big killers,

contributing to 86 percent of deaths.

So, what do we do?

What do we do to defuse
these chronic disease time bombs

that lie within us?

Oh, hang on!

Maybe some of them are preventable.

Would you like to find out
how preventable these diseases are?

Let’s go back then to number one:
cardiovascular disease.

Evidence tells us that - wait for it -

90 percent of cardiovascular
disease is preventable.

90, not 9 - 90.

Take cancer.

Between 40 and 45 percent
of cancers are preventable.

And let’s take diabetes.

80 percent of diabetes cases
are preventable.

Well, this is just fantastic news!

It’s amazing. It's fantastic!

But if we look at the reality,
what's happening today,

if we look at health
expenditure in Europe,

it's about ten percent of GDP.

That doesn't mean millions,
it doesn't mean billions;

it means trillions of euros.

But the reality is,

of all that money we spend on health,

less than one percent goes to prevention.

So, we are not here to name,
to blame, or to shame.

It is what it is.

We as humanity
have created that situation,

but I have more good news.

If we talk about prevention,

there are two main ways
to prevent disease.

Number one -

and now I want to bring you back
to that image of my six brothers and I,

back in Ireland.

Number one - nutrition.

What we eat every day.

And number two is lifestyle.

Let’s talk a little bit about nutrition.

Do you know how much sugar, salt, and fat
you have put through your system today?

Have you eaten at least 400 grams
of fruit and vegetables today?

That’s about five portions.

How about your red meat consumption?

In Europe, we’re eating double
the amount of red meat we should

and half the amount of fish we should.

How about your legumes? Your fiber?

Then lifestyle.

Lifestyle - we all know it -

smoking, it's very bad.

In the European Code Against Cancer,
it’s the number one killer.

And the number two
cause of cancer in the Code

is passive smoking.

So, if you don't smoke,

do not accept to inhale
other people's passive smoke.

Alcohol? Limit it.

Limit it as much as you can.

And the big one - physical activity.

Remember the farmers years ago?

From morning to night?

What are we doing all day?
We are doing this.

And then we go home, and we do this.

And then we go to bed.

So basically, they’re the main things.

Now, 40 years or more have passed on.

Today, I’m in the Lake District in Italy,

and I love it here.

I’m a JRC scientist.

I am a scientist working
in public health on chronic disease

for the European Commission’s
Joint Research Centre.

Now, I need to tell you

that the EU and the Commission
does not have a legal mandate

to impose legislation on the member states
to help the situation.

That is up to the member states,
the countries of the European Union.

But we do, and we can do,

and we do a lot of very good work
on spearheading projects.

Let me give just one or two examples,

and then we will go
on towards the end of the talk.

In the Joint Research Centre,
we have mapped school food policies.

The children are the future.

When children learn good habits -

and the school is a controlled setting;
it's an excellent setting -

they will keep those good habits,

just like if they learn bad habits,
it would be difficult to change.

With those school food policies,

we then got the member states together,
and they all exchanged practices:

What do you do?

How can we fix the situation?

How can we improve the situation?

We’ve looked to see

how to improve the uptake of fruit,
vegetables, and water in schools.

We’ve even looked
at national dietary requirements,

and I can give you some
shocking statistics now - let's do it.

If you take plain rice -
plain rice in its natural form

should contain, or does contain,
about 0.5 grams per 100 grams.

That's a half a percentage.

But if you look what's on the market,
what are people buying and eating?

Some of those products
contain over 30 grams -

it's added sugar -

30 grams per 100 grams.

So that’s like 60, 70 times more sugar.

We looked at breakfast cereals,

breakfast cereals all over Europe,
the various categories.

There’s a chart from
0 to 35 grams per 100 grams.

It was red, especially for the children:

the children's cereals are full of sugar.

They're going to school

having already exceeded,
maybe, their daily dose.

We’ve also looked
at front-of-pack labeling.

I asked you earlier:

do you know how much sugar,
salt, and fat you've eaten today?

Well, to be honest you'd be a genius
to be able to find that out

because it is very difficult.

Front-of-pack labeling.

When you buy something
and you want to it eat it or drink it,

can you look at the back of it
and read and understand what's there?

We are looking to improve that situation.

We are mapping all of
the front-of-pack labeling techniques,

and we will spearhead a project
to hopefully change that.

If we cannot communicate
this to the people,

then the people won’t make the change.

Okay, there were
some examples of what we do.

We could go on,

but I need to come
towards the end of the speech.

Now, this is not just -

if you take a step
on nutrition and lifestyle,

it is not just about reducing
your risk of chronic disease.

There are two other fantastic advantages.

Number one.

Think about it:

if 86 percent of us are dying
because of chronic disease,

how many of us are already toxic?

How do we feel? Do we feel good?

If we take a step in this direction,
we will feel better.

We will think better.

We will sleep better.

We will move better.

We will do everything better.

Before, when you thought,
"This is a burden; this is a stress" -

that will suddenly become
"It's a challenge; I will get over this."

Our wellbeing should not
be underestimated.

That is for you:
this is really for all of us.

And there's a second big advantage:
our precious environment.

Imagine if millions of people
make this little move,

towards eating and their lifestyle.

Just making that change.

Cycling, walking to work - leave the car.

The air would become cleaner.

Take the stairs, not the lift.

You save energy.

Energy, climate change -
we know the story.

These are a lot of factors that we can do.

So there are so many advantages,

and looking at these figures and numbers
and saying, “I’m going to do something."

And now, we're almost at the end.

And I am looking at you
because I have one request:

to please take away
even one thing with you.

That maybe from tonight or tomorrow,

you will go for a walk after dinner
before you go to bed.

Maybe look at your fruit and veg uptake.

Maybe drink more water.

Please take that with you.

You will feel better.

Your loved ones will really appreciate it.

And maybe then,

we can turn the tide of chronic disease.

(Applause)