The majority of adults in the U.S. and the U.K. are unhealthy, says British cardiologist and public health campaigner Dr. Aseem Malhotra. And yet, these countries have some of the highest health expenditures
in the Western world.
Poor diet is one of the biggest drivers of America’s chronic disease epidemic, says Dr. Malhotra, with 60% of calorie intake in the U.S. and 57% in the U.K. coming from ultra-processed foods. More than 60% of America’s adult population is overweight or obese, with 88% having abnormal metabolic health markers. “You can’t fix healthcare until you fix food,” Dr. Malhotra told our colleague, Jan Jekielek in an interview on American Thought Leaders.
Dr. Malhotra recently released a documentary, “First! Do No Pharm,” which examines the commercialization of modern medicine and how that is affecting our physical, mental, and social well-being. “There is a false perception out there that medicine is an exact science, like, say, physics or chemistry, when in fact, it is a social science—the science of human beings,” says Dr. Malhotra.