Heidi Utah

Preventing the Number One Cause of Death

The top killer in our nation is almost completely preventable and, in most cases, reversible.

Dear Future President,

Over the past few decades, the global leading cause of death has remained the same. In just the US alone, one in four Americans die due to some kind of heart disease. Of these 611,105 deaths, most of them can be directly traced back to diet, according to medicalnewstoday.com. These means that the leading cause of death facing our country, and our world, is almost 100% preventable.

Cancer is one of the top killers threatening our nation, and some types of cancer have a direct correlation with food, as well. Research has come forward stating that processed meats are just as likely to cause cancer as smoking is, if not more so. My point with all of this is that you could have to potential to make a huge difference in the quality of life of many Americans. Changing the way we view health and food would be beneficial to not only humans, but to animals and the environment, too.

There is an easy solution- eating a more plant based diet. I'm not suggesting that every human on the planet needs to become a hard core vegan, but if people would start to make more conscious decisions about what they eat and limited their meat and dairy consumption, there would be some pretty substantial advances in the overall health of our nation. Some of the health benefits following the adoption of a plant based diet include Type 2 Diabetes prevention (which is completely preventable), lower blood pressure, heart disease prevention, weight loss, and lower cholesterol.

This diet is not only preventive towards these diseases, but it also reverses the effects of them. Research from a study conducted by Dr. Esselstyn showed that 70% of patients with progressive triple-vessel coronary heart disease were able to reverse their disease by eating a low-fat and plant-based diet.

This is a major issue facing our nation and needs to be acted upon quickly. With your help taking action through regulation and spreading awareness, we could vastly improve the quality of life of a huge percent of the country’s population. Thank you for your time and please take this letter into consideration in your upcoming presidency.

Sincerely,

Heidi

Judge Memorial

JM English, periods 5 & 6

Students in Mr. Sloan's AP English Language and Composition class

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