Happy New Year! Is this the year of the tipping point?

                I’m sure that many of you have read or at least have heard about Malcolm Gladwell’s The tipping point. From the Amazon description: The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. I’m encouraged by ONE DAY’S headlines from the Microsoft news site, sixteen in all by the time I stopped scrolling. Here are just a few.

            Nine worst foods for your cholesterol.

            Four foods linked to memory loss.

            Is ultraprocessed food causing colon cancer? New study suggests it’s possible.

            Eating these foods lowers dementia risk.

            There is a link between the meat you eat and a chronic disease.

            Cardiologists say these are the worst foods for your heart.

            Ten American favorites that other countries have outlawed.

            Eating processed meats raises type 2 diabetes risk.

            I hope that this plethora of dietary warnings reflects an awareness that the modern Western diet, not aging, is the direct cause of the leading causes of death, especially cardiovascular disease and cancer.

            Another book worth mentioning is the latest edition of The Blue Zones by Dan Buettner. This new version makes for pleasant reading because of its generous use of photographs that reinforce the text. The latter describes the planet’s longest-lived people, whose eating habits and lifestyles are sensible and practical. From Okinawa to Loma Linda, Costa Rica to Greece, Sardinia to Singapore, the commonality is clear: more plant foods, zero processed foods, lifelong physical activity and strong social relationships are the keys to a long, healthy life. What could be simpler?

            Another factor that will hopefully push us past the tipping point is economics. Type 2 diabetes, which was almost nonexistent a little more than a century ago and which is now among the leading causes of death, costs this country more than a third of a trillion dollars a year. Lurking in the political shadows are proposals to tax products containing refined grains and sugar, Draconian measures to be sure, but perhaps inevitable. The old adage, “If you want to get rid of something, tax it” may well apply.

            It will take at least a generation to reverse the unhealthy trends of the past century, but I feel that the tipping point is near.