The renown medical journal, The Lancet, issued a warning on January 16,2019, that, worldwide, we should cut our consumption of sugar and red meat by half, or else we won't be able to feed ourselves sustainably by 2050.
Well in Jamaica, the Ministry of Health has been proactive about Jamaicans cutting down on our obesity problem and on our consumption of sugary drinks.
[Christopher Tufton, Health Minister said in 2017, that it will cost Jamaica approximately JMD $77 billion (US $583 million) over the next 15 years, to treat people suffering from cardiovascular-related diseases and diabetes. We can barely afford the JMD $60.3 billion (USD 468.8 million) a year to pay for public health, more-so this amount].
So, the Health Ministry has been running a campaign called "Jamaica Moves" whereby which Jamaicans are being encouraged to exercise for at least thirty (30) minutes per day for five (5) days per week...
...and in conjunction with The Heart Foundation of Jamaica, has had a "Are You Drinking Yourself Sick?"ad campaign running, showing a young lady called Rosie, who is what we call "fluffy" in Jamaica (overweight), consuming up to fifty (50) teaspoonfuls of sugar each day, by means of the sugary drinks she consumes.
The ad has really struck home as it shows Rosie in hospital, surrounded by her family, as she suffers from one of the severe non-communicable diseases e.g. diabetes or high blood pressure, as a result of her sugary-drink consumption.
In response to a World Health Organization mandate in 2018, the Jamaican Government went as far as to force manufacturers of sugary drinks, to cut the sugar in these drinks by at least half, or face being taxed.
(As a result of the "Jamaica Moves" and "Are You Drinking Yourself Sick?" ad campaigns, 71% of Jamaicans surveyed, said that they would be open to taxes being levied on sugary-drink manufacturers and that these taxes be made to contribute to the national health costs for obesity and non-communicable diseases caused by sugary-drink consumption).
Cutting down on the consumption of red meat may have been difficult for some Jamaicans ten (10) years ago, but now, with the prevalence of cancer and heart disease among Jamaicans (these diseases are among the top 10 causes of loss of life in Jamaica), more and more Jamaicans are open to cutting down on red meat.
[According to article, The Dangers of Red Meat, by Dr. Tony Vendryes, renown Jamaican health practitioner, "higher risk of cancer is just one of several health reasons to avoid eating commercial red meat (e.g. bacon, hot dogs, turkey bacon and bologna).
The saturated animal fat found in red meat contributes to heart disease, atherosclerosis (the narrowing and hardening of the arteries), and other inflammatory disorders. Commercial red meat contains contaminants such as heavy metals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and environmental pollutants. These are absorbed into your body when you eat commercial meats"].
This means cutting down on our consumption of pork and goat meat - staples of Jamaican dinners for the middle and upper middle classes and Jamaican Beef Patties...staples of Jamaican lunches for all classes of Jamaicans.
(Yes pork, although touted to be "the other white meat", in the 1987 American ad campaign "Pork. The Other White Meat", by the US Pork Board, was in fact ruled as red meat, by the US Department of Agriculture).
Jamaicans love our pork, especially our Jamaican Jerk Pork and the pigstail and beef we use in our Red Peas Soup and in Jamaican Stew Peas).
So switching from Jerk Pork to Baked Chicken and having just red peas in our Red Peas Soup and Jamaican Stew Peas, has become a natural progression for more and more Jamaicans.
Hopefully more will heed the warning by The Lancet, warnings by health professionals and our Health Ministry and continue to cut down on our consumption of red meat and sugars. Surely we must do so if we plan to live long and healthy lives into 2050 and beyond.
Gillian
Sources Include
1) BBC World News, January 16,2018
2) Article,"Discussions Begin with Manufacturers to Reduce Sugar in Drinks",by Ainsworth Morris, JIS News, September 11,2018
3) Article,"Manufacturers warned to cut the sugar before the gov't takes action", January 12,2018
4) Article,"Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes to cost $77 Billion over Next 15 Years",by Ainsworth Morris, JIS (Jamaica Information Service) News, October 25,2017
5) Graph,"What causes the most premature death? - Top 10 causes of years of life lost (YLLs) in 2017 and percent change, 2007-2017, all ages, number", Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2017
6) Article,"The Dangers of Red Meat", by Dr. Tony Vendryes, The Jamaica Gleaner, November 3,2015
7) Jamaica GDP figure 2017,Trading Economics.com
8) 2017-18 Jamaica Budget: Ministry of Health, Page 785, in document, Estimates of Expenditure 2017-18
9) What Is Atherosclerosis?, via WebMD.com
10) Article,"Pork. The Other White Meat", Wikipedia
11) Jamaican Red Peas Soup recipe from Stephania Hutchinson, via Cookpad
12) Miss G's Simple Jamaican Stew Peas Recipe via Jamaicans.com
