Open Letter to President Trump. How to Cure the Disease Treatment System? Make It a Health Care System

Abstract

Clearly the current way we address health and disease in the United States is not working. We now suffer the highest burden of chronic disease in every age group ever in human history. And, at the same time, we have the most expensive health care system ever. Why? Because the actual causes of disease are not being addressed. Eight years ago, when you were first elected president, I gathered together the leadership of natural, integrative, functional, and environmental medicine to provide guidance on what needed to change. Unfortunately, none of our recommendations were addressed, every measure of health and disease burden has worsened, and health care costs continue to increase far beyond the rate of inflation.

President Trump, please take a look and consider these recommendations.

Introduction

We now suffer the highest burden of chronic disease in every age group ever in human history. I have written more than 150 editorials, most of which address the core causes of ill health and disease. Obviously, it is impossible to fully restate here all of this content in the space available. Rather, I note the key concepts and then point to my editorials, which fully discuss the issues and include a substantial number of references.

In some ways, conventional medicine has tools that are too effective. Not too effective at treating disease—rather, too successful at turning off the signs and symptoms of the body failing. This all too often results in the causes of disease and ill health not being addressed.

Last time President Trump was elected I invited leaders in integrative, natural, functional, and environmental medicine to provide their thoughts on how to cure the ailing health care system. A summary of our thoughts was published.

Editorial: “How to Cure the Sick Health Care System: An Open Letter to President Trump From Leaders in Functional/Integrative/Natural Health And Medicine.”¹

Unfortunately, in the ensuing 8 years apparently not a single suggestion has been addressed by the Presidents or Congress.

The only cure for the sick health care system is to make people healthier so they do not need as much health care. Foundational to the success of this ideal is the need to address the true causes of disease. Genetics accounts for only 15% of disease—virtually all the rest is dependent on nutritional status, body load of toxic chemicals and metals from the environment, and lifestyle.

Most Aspects of Living in America are Fundamentally Unhealthy

The factors that impact an individual’s health can be categorized as active or passive. Active interventions depend upon behavior changes. For example, the only way to be physically fit is to regularly engage in exercise. Passive interventions depend upon changing the environment so behavioral changes are not needed. Examples include incentivizing farmers to grow food that is more nutrient dense and less contaminated with toxic metals and chemicals. Unfortunately, virtually all the passive determinants of health have become unhealthy.

Editorial: “Hard to Be Healthy in North America.”²

We Need to Think Differently About Medicine and Public Health

Foundational to addressing the primary causes of ill health and disease is the need to think differently about public health. As we all know, the majority of the increase in longevity seen over the past century is due to public health initiatives effectively addressing the microbial contamination of food and water that was causing too many babies and young children to die. Let’s broaden our thinking of public health to include such innovative ideas as working with farmers to increase the nutrient density of foods and to decrease their contamination with toxic metals and chemicals introduced during growing, transport, storage, and preparation.

Editorial: “Integrative Medicine and Public Health.”³

Nutrient Deficiencies Are Very Common

Even given the US nutrient standards (which I consider inadequate), virtually the entire population has at least 1 nutrient deficiency, and most are deficient in many nutrients. This problem is made worse by the loss of what I facetiously call “Unimportant Molecules.” When foods are grown chemically rather than organically, they maintain most of the 42 nutrients required for life. However, they lose most of the other 50 000 molecules that have been found in the plants and animals humans eat and that are required for health. I have now written 3 editorials on the critical importance of eating whole, uncontaminated foods rich in phytonutrients.

Editorials: “‘Unimportant’ Molecules?—Part 1”⁴

“‘Unimportant’ Molecules?—Part 2”⁵

“Unimportant Molecules and Medical Philosophy”⁶

Environmental Toxins Have Become the Primary Driver of Chronic Disease

I believe the research is clear that toxic environmental metals and chemicals have become the primary cause of the worldwide epidemic of chronic disease. The widespread problem of nutrient deficiencies has not gone away—rather we have added an even worse problem. I have written many editorials on this topic. Recently, while looking at the research to update my understanding on how to assess toxic load, I came across a fascinating article.⁷ The authors attempted to look at the full health impact of a person’s total toxic load. I was impressed that they tried to understand the impact of toxins through the ways they damage physiological function. While I disagree with several aspects of the study design (the authors did not address arsenic—which I consider the worst environmental toxin), I think their results are valid and extremely important. They created a measure of toxic impact they entitled the Relative Wellness Index. They then looked at the predictive strength of this index for all-cause mortality and disease risk after 10 years. The results were stunning and highly educational and can be seen in Figures 1 and 2. Basically, the least healthy people die much faster and have a much higher risk of chronic disease.

Figure 1.

10-Year Survival Rate According to the Relative Wellness Index (RWI)⁷

Figure 2.

10-Year Chronic Disease Risk According to the Relative Wellness Index⁷

As can be seen in Figure 1, those in the bottom 40% of relative wellness die at 10 times the rate of those in the top 10% relative wellness. Those in the bottom 40% also appear to have essentially all the chronic disease burden, as seen in Figure 2.

• Editorials: “Time to Change Standard of Care to Include Screening for Common Disease-Inducing Toxicants.”⁸

• “Time to Recognize and Address the Serious Arsenic Problem.”⁹

• “Continuing the Conversation About Arsenic.”^10-11

• “Is Mercury Toxicity an Epidemic?”^12-14

• “Fluorocarbons (PFAS)—The Forever Chemicals”¹⁵

• “Impact of Microplastics and Nanoplastics on Human Health”¹⁶

• “Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)—A Serious Clinical Concern.”¹⁷

• “Common Chemical Pollutants Causing a Lot of Ill Health”¹⁸

• “Particulate Matter Is a Surprisingly Common Contributor to Disease.”¹⁹

• “Plastic Food Container Safety.”²⁰

• “Environmental Toxins Are a Major Cause of Bone Loss”²¹

• “Is the Diabetes Epidemic Primarily Due to Toxins?”²²

• “Environmental Toxins and Infertility”²³

• “Strategies for Protecting Mitochondria From Metals and Chemicals”²⁴

• “Toxin Exposure Reduction”²⁵

Health Medicine

Finally, I believe we need to deeply rethink how we prioritize and understand medicine. We need to realize and fully embrace that there are fundamentally 2 different approaches to health care: disease treatment and health promotion. The term “alternative medicine” is totally wrong thinking—we do not need one or the other—we need both. We need to do everything we can to improve health, since this decreases the risk of disease. And, we still need to take care of people who have congenital disorders, injuries, and diseases beyond the ability of the body to heal.

Editorial: “Health Medicine”²⁶

Conclusion

President Trump, clearly there is a lot more to add to this conversation. But I think my message is clear: The primary priorities your administration need to address are the rampant nutrient deficiencies and the clearance of toxins from the environment. Tackling these priorities will greatly improve human health and dramatically decrease health care (disease care) costs.

Biography

Joseph Pizzorno, ND, Editor in Chief, IMCJ; co-author, Textbook of Natural Medicine; Founding President, Bastyr University; Member, Board of Directors, Institute for Functional Medicine.