Economic crisis gave health benefit in Cuba - AP

Crisis Affected Cubans were slimmer – and healthier.

By: Asle Rønning , Forskning.no

We know that individuals who are overweight are at increased risk for diabetes and heart disease. But what happens when an entire country be put on a diet?

It happened in Cuba in the 1990s, when the country experienced its worst economic crisis.

researchers behind the new study think that the experience of Cuba clearly shows how much impact can be of a moderate weight loss of an entire population. The report clearly a link between weight loss and rapid decline in diabetes and heart disease.

Caribbean island state has good health data and well-developed health research, which is unique for a developing country. Small social differences also helps that Cuba is a good place to investigate the changes in public health.

class=”edrumParagraphtitle”> tighten

1991 Cuba hit by the economic crisis as the former trading partner the Soviet Union threw in the towel. Combined with U.S. handelsembargo it led to acute shortages including food and fuel for Cubans.

People had to literally tighten their belts.

kriseåra 1991-1995 fallen gross domestic product (GDP ) in Cuba every year. At the same time Cubans lose weight.

See also: Increased income gave poorer health

reason was partly that less food was available and partly because people were more physically active. Buses and trains lacked fuel and people had to walk and cycle.

Workers in agriculture and industry had to leave machines idle and go back to more manual work.

Less obesity

In a new study, researchers from Spain, the U.S. and Cuba analyzed the health effects of the crisis. In the study, published in the British Medical Journal, the national health data coupled with detailed information from health surveys in the city of Cienfuegos.

In this city, the data show that residents on average was 5.5 kilograms leaner during the five kriseåra.

class=”edrumImageCaption”> researchers used national data from Cuba and detailed medical examinations from the provincial city of Cienfuegos. (Illustration: Per Byhring / Forskning.no)

The prevalence of obesity decreased significantly. This agrees well with national figures who say that the average intake of calories fell by almost twenty percent.

Weight loss came across the board, not just among the obese.

class=”edrumParagraphtitle”> Less diabetes

effect of the economic problems of public health was dramatic.

incidence of diabetes had increased gradually in the 1980s, but this trend was reversed in 1991. As the pounds disappeared fell incidence of new cases of diabetes.

total mortality associated with diabetes halved over a period of ten years.

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death from cardiovascular disease was the trend before 1991 has been a slight annual decline. In the wake of the crisis, mortality sharply for these diseases.

For example, mortality from stroke fell by 13.6 percent between 2000 and 2004.

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It is not unknown that external factors can affect public health. In Norway as one under the German occupation between 1940 and 1945 a similar effect on the teeth.

Because of the lack of sugar was much fewer number of holes. But then came the liberation and people began to spread thick with syrup on the bread again ¿

Something similar happened in Cuba. In 1995, turned the economy and the times were gradually improved. Then there were excesses to come back.

In 2010, the prevalence of obesity over the level before the crisis. The incidence of obesity-related diseases increased with pounds, right enough with a few years of delay.

From 2002 to 2010, the incidence of deaths related to diabetes again, now at 3.3 percent annually. Mortality from heart disease also turned back to the pattern before 1991.

class=”edrumParagraphtitle”> Significant effect

– Experiences from Cuba shows that over a relatively short period can moderate weight loss in the overall population have a significant effect on the overall incidence of diabetes. In Cuba had weight loss also has a great effect on trends in cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality, the researchers wrote.

It was just registered small effects on mortality from cancer.

Although it is difficult to transfer the experiences directly, scientists believe that Cuba nineties clearly shows how much it can mean for the health of the population becomes leaner.

See also: Fewer died during the depression

Previous studies of economic crises, such as the 1930s depression in the United States, has not given as a clear result.

No crisis is just

reason may be that special relationship with the Cuban economy. The government imported more than a million bicycles from China so people could ride when cars and buses had to stand.

Simultaneously, the state of a change in diet with applications for cultivation of fruits and vegetables in the cities.

– These unique aspects of the Cuban experience makes it largely not comparable with other examples of economic crises, the study said.

It should be added that the Cubans too much negative during the crisis years and that no one today would back this time.

example occurred an epidemic of the MS-like disease neuropathy. This is a disease in which malnutrition may be among the reasons.

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