Singapore

In Singapore, more than 600 people succumb to kidney failure every year. Currently, there are over 3,000 kidney patients in Singapore with the number expected to double in 2010 (1). Statistics have shown that out of these newly diagnosed kidney cases, 50% were caused by diabetes and 9% by hypertension (2). In Singapore, diabetes has also been identified as the sixth most common cause of death followed by kidney failure which ranks seventh (3). Indeed, diabetes has been labelled as an Asian epidemic (based on the rising rates of diabetes among Chinese and Indian) (4). The tragedy is that the majority of these patients did not have to suffer the pain of dialysis as their conditions could have been prevented.

(1) Statistics presented by the Ministry of Health
(2) Statistics from Professor Woo Keng Thye, Singapore Renal Registry
(3) Statistics from MOH website: Health Facts Singapore 2001 (www.moh.com.sg)
(4) Times Magazine (December 2002)

Reprinted from:
http://www.nkfs.org/prevention/prev_prog.php

Japan

Three Out of Four Die of Cancer
There has been a big increase in Japan recently in the number of cases of elderly diseases like high blood pressure, stroke, cardiac problems and diabetes due to an increasingly western diet. During the mid-60's, diseases of brain (e.g. cerebral infarction, cerebral homorrhage, etc) were the number one killer but now it is cardiac related problems and cancer.

From Welfare Ministry White Paper, the Major Disease Data shows that 3 out of 4 die of cancer but one must be aware that these are mere statistical data and that there is another fact lurking behind these figures.

Pregnant but ...
Based on Unsuccessful Pregnance - Tokyo (1955 - 1988), the percentage of unsuccessful births (due to one reason to another) in 1978 was 9.5%. In 1955, it was 8.3%. That was the year of the Morinaga case in which arsenic was found in milk. This, howerever, was not the only contributing factor; in those days, miscarriages had a stronger tendency to happen in first pregnancies. The data depicts the year to year movement of the trend.

The percentage starts getting bigger after 1960. Incidentally, it coincides with the period when instant noddles came onto the market. In the ensuring years, there were increasing numbers of chemicals, drugs and food additives being used which unavoidably affect the life of Japanese. And there are increasing numbers of "fetal patients", i.e. newborns affected by harmful chemicals like PCBs, etc. absorbed by mother during the pregnancy stage. The use of additives have spread like wildfire and there are official reports saying that an adult on the average takes 100mg of food additives a day.

Instant food and vending machines have definitely made life very convenient for everyone in that one can eat or drink anytime or anywhere. Of course this purchasing power of the Japanese has enabled Japan's GNP to be Number 1 in the world but at a price; the unnatural life style has resulted in the appearance of health problems related to the use of food additives and drugs. A survey in 1974 showed that the average Japanese enjoyed freedom and abundant lifestyle but has had to put up with the kinds of health problems brought about by an unnatural lifestyle.

Even those new born are not spared; there is an increasing trend of babies being born with congenital diseases because of chromosomal abnormalities. Atopic Dermatitis is probably one of them. It is really pitiful.

Reprinted from:
The Miracle Of Pi Water - by Makino Shinji. Ph D