Declining life expectancy

[GrayHare]

Obesity has been around for 20+ years. What is new in the last year or two?

Since obesity doesn't kill quickly perhaps it's now beginning to claim more lives.

 

[GravitySucks]

Here ya go: Metagenomic Analysis of Kimchi

Wait, this paper is real science. I thought all nutrition information on the web is supposed to be based on anecdotal evidence and fear mongering. (e.g. FoodBabe.com)

 

[audreyh1]

What are the organisms that are supposed to be in sauerkraut and kimchi? Are they the same and how do they get there?

A very long time ago, probably when my mother was feeling ambitious, she made kimchi but I don't recall her adding any kind of starter culture.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

Probiotics - a.k.a gut flora (bacteria). Naturally occurring in fermented foods.

 

[ERD50]

RE: 'live' versus pasteurized sauerkraut and kimchee

That's OK since the idea behind sauerkraut isn't to introduce live organisms but rather feed the existing ones. The good intestinal bacteria like an acidic environment: acidophilus.

I really doubt that eating some sauerkraut is gonna affect your stomach acidity enough and long enough to matter. The proponents claim it is the organisms, but we need some science here rather than speculation and anecdotes.

http://foodsafety.wisc.edu/business_food/files/approximate_ph.pdf

Lower numbers are more acidic:

Sauerkraut 3.30-3.60

Apple – McIntosh 3.34

Apple – Jonathan 3.33

Apple Sauce 3.10-3.60

Plums, Blue 2.80-3.40

Blueberries, frozen 3.11-3.22

Pomegranate 2.93-3.20

Wines 2.8 - 3.8

Grapes, Concord 2.80-3.00

Lemon juice 2.00-2.60

and from wiki: The pH of gastric acid is 1.5 to 3.5[2] in the human stomach lumen, the acidity being maintained by the proton pump H+/K+ ATPase.

I'm pretty sure our feedback mechanisms are going to control our stomach pH, not so much the food we eat.

You can find store bought sauerkraut with live organisms.

Yes, Bubbies is a good one. It needs to be kept cold so has not been heated and canned. There are other brands with live organisms. The prices are generally higher on the fresh stuff.

I know they have bagged kraut in the fridge section of our market, whether it is live or not, I do not know. I'll note the brand next time and look it up, I don't think the package said anything.

And for those asking about the process - the probiotics naturally occur on the cabbage leaves and in the air (lacto-bacillus mainly). Nothing is added, other than salt (at least when made at home). I read that inoculating it doesn't work out so well, as there are stages the bugs go through. And kimchee is the same in this regard, but it has added spices, some other veggies (dikon radish mainly), and usually some form of fish product (dried shrimp, salted, cured fish, and or fish sauce). It's all good!

-ERD50

 

[GrayHare]

I really doubt that eating some sauerkraut is gonna affect your stomach acidity enough and long enough to matter.

Sauerkraut has made significant digestion improvement for me and others as a followup to antibiotic meds. I speculate that compared to softer foods, the relatively "tough" cabbage survives farther into the digestive tract. However if one's digestive imbalance is higher up perhaps yogurt is a better fit. Sauerkraut is easy to try though. In less than 12 hours I can notice the improvement it makes for me.

 

[haha]

Obesity has been around for 20+ years. What is new in the last year or two?

Drug overdoses?
Mass shootings?
Obamacare?
Prices for essential drugs?

It has to be something recent?

How about more obesity, diabetes, and sugar consumption?


Ha

 

[photoguy]

Here ya go: Metagenomic Analysis of Kimchi

Wow that's what I love to see. I'm enough of a geek that I actually read much of the paper.

And for those asking about the process - the probiotics naturally occur on the cabbage leaves and in the air (lacto-bacillus mainly). Nothing is added, other than salt (at least when made at home).

Thanks that was a key thing I didn't understand. I suppose the salts and other ingredients keep other "bad" bacteria from forming.

 

[Nemo2]

Just got home from the supermarket...ran into a couple that we initially met, (just when he was about to retire as a realtor), some ten years ago, and whom we'd encounter infrequently at the library, or somesuch.

He didn't know who we were, and I suspect she didn't, at this stage, even know what 'knowing' is.....(and she was once very aware & alert).....he was leading her around like a two year old.

Depressed the hell out of me.......life expectancy has to be more than numerics, or what good is it.

 

[Winemaker]

Not to mention breathing air that is 78% nitrogen. The government should do something!

I concur; they are some that are extremely worried about a gas that is 0.04% of the atmosphere. And all this kimchi and sauerkraut fermentation may increase it to 0.041%.

 

[mamadogmamacat]

I have not looked for any studies on this, but there has been a lot in the news about death rates from opiod addiction growing in the SE and mid Atlantic states. Primarily among young adults in those regions. if accurate, that would pull the avg age down more so than with growing addiction rates among the middle aged, as an early poster mentioned. Anecdotally, I have a good friend who recently lost a 28 yr old granddaughter to heroin overdose.

 

[aja8888]

I have not looked for any studies on this, but there has been a lot in the news about death rates from opiod addiction growing in the SE and mid Atlantic states. Primarily among young adults in those regions. if accurate, that would pull the avg age down more so than with growing addiction rates among the middle aged, as an early poster mentioned. Anecdotally, I have a good friend who recently lost a 28 yr old granddaughter to heroin overdose.

Now that opiod based pain pills are getting harder to get, the cartels have replaced the pill machine with heroin. It's a shame what is going on and how ineffective the drug agencies are in stopping it. We have also lost a dear family member to this tragic situation.

 

[kcowan]

How about more obesity, diabetes, and sugar consumption?


Ha

No question it is a factor but not suddenly in the last year?

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Now that opiod based pain pills are getting harder to get, the cartels have replaced the pill machine with heroin. It's a shame what is going on and how ineffective the drug agencies are in stopping it. We have also lost a dear family member to this tragic situation.

We could follow the lead of Britain, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark and provide opiates to addicts in a safe environment until their get their addiction under control. That could reduce fatal overdoses and the need to commit crime to buy drugs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin-assisted_treatment

 

[MRG]

Now that opiod based pain pills are getting harder to get, the cartels have replaced the pill machine with heroin. It's a shame what is going on and how ineffective the drug agencies are in stopping it. We have also lost a dear family member to this tragic situation.

So sorry for your loss.

So sad. Too many families have lost loved ones to this terrible epidemic. I have a nephew who's been in and out of prison, halfway houses, treatment centers, for most of his life. We pray for the best knowing that he needs a miracle to occur.

 

[brett]

Will this trend, if it continues, lead to some downward funding pressure on DB plans based on revised actuarial estimates?

 

[samclem]

Now that opiod based pain pills are getting harder to get, the cartels have replaced the pill machine with heroin.

And the adulteration of illicit heroin with fentanyl (30-50 times more potent than heroin) and carfentanil (100 times more deadly than fentanyl, according to the DEA) has significantly increased the death toll. Dealers put it in because it is cheaper than heroin and gets users hooked even faster. Users have no idea how much of these other things have been added to the heroin along the way (which is also typically of unknown purity). The stuff they are injecting can be instantly deadly, even to long-tern heroin addicts with high opiate tolerance.

I'm very sorry to hear of your loss.

 

[kcowan]

Will this trend, if it continues, lead to some downward funding pressure on DB plans based on revised actuarial estimates?

The actuarial tables are for a relevant population. So unless you were working with a drug-using workforce, there will be no change. In my case (retired on DB pension at 49), they had no insight into the fact that retiring early increased life expectancy! Their loss was my gain.

 

[VFK57]

The health care cost within USA become ridiculously high vs other developed countries with top level health care. I think it is mostly because of health care insurance companies. My sister in law, who unfortunately recently was diagnosed with a breast cancer, worked for decades in a medical insurance billing department. She told me that simple MRI charge is -$2,500, stay over night in a hospital -2,500, X-Ray -$850 etc. Most cost increases happened during past decade and if the cost continue to grow it will surely become not affordable at some point for millions people with self insurance and medicare (what covers only up to 80% of the cost and co-insurance, co-pays are needed).

 

[NW-Bound]

The health care cost within USA become ridiculously high vs other developed countries with top level health care. I think it is mostly because of health care insurance companies...

Insurance companies are required to pay out 85% of the collected premium for health care expenses. That means they have 15% max for profits and for operating costs.

The Medicaid program run by the government has an operating cost of 10%. If we take that as the norm, then insurance companies have a 5% profit margin.

Compare the above with Apple's net profit margin of 19% in the most recent quarter.

The above suggests that cost controlling should be looked at the health care providers. They are the ones where 85% of the cost goes.

 

[VFK57]

Insurance companies are required to pay out 85% of the collected premium for health care expenses. That means they have 15% max for profits and for operating costs.

The Medicaid program run by the government has an operating cost of 10%. If we take that as the norm, then insurance companies have a 5% profit margin.

Compare the above with Apple's net profit margin of 19% in the most recent quarter.

The above suggests that cost controlling should be looked at the health care providers. They are the ones where 85% of the cost goes.

Then how to explain a $2,611 average MRI cost in USA? Google it. A lowest reported cost of new MRI machine is $150K and it goes as high as $1.2 millions. If you take the number of scans the equipment makes during it's life span and divide on the equipment cost with installation, add energy, facility, MRI tech and doctor cost , add 15% for profit, do you truly believe that the cost is going to be $2,611? Some hospitals charge as much as $13,000 per MRI. I think that other medical procedures are charged in similar way.

 

[NW-Bound]

Again, the excessive money goes into the hand of the guys who own and run the MRI machine.

These are not the same guys who collect your insurance premium.

 

[razztazz]

add 15% for profit,

There's the problem right there. Your math is off. Profits are whatever can be had. See pharmaceuticals. 99 cent pill can go for 50 bucks 100 bucks 100 thousand bucks... whatever

 

[audreyh1]

Then how to explain a $2,611 average MRI cost in USA? Google it. A lowest reported cost of new MRI machine is $150K and it goes as high as $1.2 millions. If you take the number of scans the equipment makes during it's life span and divide on the equipment cost with installation, add energy, facility, MRI tech and doctor cost , add 15% for profit, do you truly believe that the cost is going to be $2,611? Some hospitals charge as much as $13,000 per MRI. I think that other medical procedures are charged in similar way.

This is not the insurance company. This is the hospital. The medical costs going up in the US have been hospitals, drug companies, and other medical providers such as doctors. The insurance company just passes those costs on to the individual.

 

[brett]

What I find surprising is the number of people we know who are diabetic or pre diabetic. Not all caused by diet of course. But many are. Yet many do not seem predisposed to change.

The shame of it today is the high number of obese children. There is little hope for them. Parents either don't know any better or are shirking their responsibility.

 

[VFK57]

There's the problem right there. Your math is off. Profits are whatever can be had. See pharmaceuticals. 99 cent pill can go for 50 bucks 100 bucks 100 thousand bucks... whatever

I added the suggested allowable charge( see the 15℅ quote). However I strongly disagree on medication development cost. My wife works for decades in pharmaceutical companies in accounting. She knows that to develop a break through medication cost a lot.