The Today Public Policy Institute has rendered a public service of inestimable value with its latest report. Despite its ponderous title, ‘The environmental dimension of Malta’s ill-health and action to prevent obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and dementia’, it succeeds in conveying how dire is the state of health of a large proportion of the Maltese population, at least by the indicators selected, and just how little is being done to improve it.
Whether the report will be successful in stimulating the desired-for dialogue and the new policies to counteract these trends is another matter. It all depends on whether there are people, both in policymaking positions and within society, who want to listen. However, listen we must.
The report lists some alarming statistics on lack of physical exercise and the country’s rates of obesity, diabetes and alcohol consumption. The verdict is that “Malta is one of the fattest, laziest and most car-dependent nations on the planet”. It then lambasts the government’s health administrations for their “incompetence” in the field of preventive medicine and encouragement of healthy lifestyles.
The report promotes the idea of elevating disease prevention – mainly through diet and exercise – to a role at least as important as treatment, with the medical profession helping spread the message. Aimed as it is mainly at policymakers, it slams the point home by enumerating the enormous cost of treating the life-threatening diseases that increasingly plague western society, Malta, evidently, being a prime example.
The study roots its conclusions and recommendations solidly in science. However, one statement it makes will most certainly ruffle feathers.
The report notes that the link between saturated fat consumption and cardiovascular disease “is based on flawed evidence” adding that “this, and other misguided schools of thought were largely instigated by the food and beverage industry”. Some may wonder whether this was a case of being unduly influenced by the so-called low-carbohydrate, high fat, high animal protein dietary movement, especially since science backs a plant-based diet dominated by fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains as being one that helps ward off diabetes and heart disease.
Still, the report’s recommendation of a Mediterranean diet would constitute an improvement on the mish-mash of pasta and meat as the basis of our daily fare.
And the think tank is right on the button when it comes to exercise. The more time passes the more evidence emerges that this a crucial component of health and longevity. Yet, the vast majority of Maltese are not physically active.
One may see a few determined walkers or joggers pounding the promenades and pavements but there should be legions out there. “If nothing is done to encourage regular physical exercise, this will cast a long shadow on Malta’s future health.” The report is emphatic, recommending an “enabling environment” that facilitates active mobility such as safe and attractive ‘walkable’ streets to encourage walking and cycling for short trips, coupled with an effective public transport system.
Walking to the bus or to the car park is simply not enough to make any real difference. Distances are too short here and, anyway, we always seek the shortest route. Indeed, the real enemy is not the urban environment but the apparent ignorance of, or the refusal to acknowledge, the real impact that lack of exercise and bad diet have on one’s health.
Effective public education is the weapon. Ultimately, becoming healthier is an individual choice one makes on the basis of information.