Capitalism is good for Poland's health
A recently published report by the British Medical Journal aimed to explain a dramatic drop in ischemic heart disease (i.e. heart disease resulting from localized tissue anemia due to obstruction of the inflow of arterial blood) in Poland since 1991. By 2002, deaths from coronary heart disease had dropped by 38 percent for men and 42 percent for women aged 45-64 years old.
"The fall in death certification rates for ischemic heart disease seems to have been larger than that previously observed in any country in peacetime," the report says.
The results were surprising. The report found that: "Reporting biases are unlikely to have exaggerated the true fall in ischemic heart disease; neither is it likely to be mainly due to changes in smoking, drinking, stress, or medical care. Changes in type of dietary fat and increased supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables seem to be the best candidate." And the study links those changes in diet directly with the political and economic changes Poland experienced during the early 1990s.
"The change in fat consumption has been a consequence of market conditions," the report says, citing the withdrawal in 1991 of large subsidies for foods of animal origin. Purchasing power for those foods dropped sharply, and demand shifted to products with vegetable fats, such as margarine, which has lower levels of trans-fatty acids. Fruit and vegetable imports also jumped.
A commentary accompanying the report also pointed out that heavy investment in domestic vegetable production, and the resulting popularity thereof, could also be a significant dietary change affecting the drop in heart disease.
The commentary offers a warning, however, that these improvements could be threatened by Poland's recent accession to the EU.
The EU's Common Agricultural Policy "places large scale agricultural production and economics above health," according to the authors, and doesn't emphasize the foods which the EU's population actually needs, instead subsidizing animal fats, tobacco, and alcohol production.
"The fall in death certification rates for ischemic heart disease seems to have been larger than that previously observed in any country in peacetime," the report says.
The results were surprising. The report found that: "Reporting biases are unlikely to have exaggerated the true fall in ischemic heart disease; neither is it likely to be mainly due to changes in smoking, drinking, stress, or medical care. Changes in type of dietary fat and increased supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables seem to be the best candidate." And the study links those changes in diet directly with the political and economic changes Poland experienced during the early 1990s.
"The change in fat consumption has been a consequence of market conditions," the report says, citing the withdrawal in 1991 of large subsidies for foods of animal origin. Purchasing power for those foods dropped sharply, and demand shifted to products with vegetable fats, such as margarine, which has lower levels of trans-fatty acids. Fruit and vegetable imports also jumped.
A commentary accompanying the report also pointed out that heavy investment in domestic vegetable production, and the resulting popularity thereof, could also be a significant dietary change affecting the drop in heart disease.
The commentary offers a warning, however, that these improvements could be threatened by Poland's recent accession to the EU.
The EU's Common Agricultural Policy "places large scale agricultural production and economics above health," according to the authors, and doesn't emphasize the foods which the EU's population actually needs, instead subsidizing animal fats, tobacco, and alcohol production.
