The USA's New Health-Based Economy

A country's "economy" once described its wealth and resources: raw materials like oil, gas, minerals, timber; main areas of production such as agriculture and industries; tourism services and so on. At some point in recent history, the concept was revised to mean a nation could be a "market economy," driven primarily by the kinds of goods and services it consumed, not the goods and services it offered for sale.

The USA has been defined as a "market economy" since around the 1980's. Essentially a "test market," America was used to determine what kinds of products would be developed for sale in the global marketplace. From Hollywood movies to iPhones and laptops, the US market set the pace for the rest of the world - not in terms of production, but through consumption.

Now, things have changed. Not only has the USA lost major buying power, but the nation's consumption focus is shifting from distractions and "toys" to health products. Like the rest of the world, the US is facing the NCD Pandemic: early debilitation and disability; early death. No longer defined by their diversions, American consumers are shifting their focus towards beating the odds.

On the surface, there seem to be three distinct markets: upscale consumers are chasing "longevity" and transhumanism; middleclass consumers want "healthy living" products; and the working poor are looking for anything that will help them "make it through the day" without collapsing from pain and exhaustion.

These three markets are completely unlike previous ones, each requiring totally different marketing strategies and product lines to meet demands. In the past, manufacturers simply produced high-end, mid-range and low-end lines of the same product for each caste, satisfying low-end consumers with cheap low-quality "knock-offs."

Health products, however, do not accommodate this traditional marketing strategy. Granted, what's left of the upper middleclass still has the black market for organ transplants and cell therapies - but the divide between upscale cutting-edge "longevity" treatments, and low-end products designed to help people "make it through the day" cannot be bridged by knock-offs.

The 1% and 99% live in fundamentally different worlds; the lifestyle options, health products, treatments and services available to each world are substantively, qualitatively and completely different. Upscale high-end health options available to the 1% are absolutely inaccessible to the 99%.

To ease the transition, and camouflage the great divide in lifestyle, healthcare and treatment alternatives - governments are partnering with the global healthcare industry to drive home the message that "health is a personal responsibility." In fact, the evidence clearly indicates that the NCD Pandemic is caused by industrial pollution and contamination. In fact, it is the 99% who are routinely exposed, cannot avoid exposure, and are predictably afflicted with the chronic health problems resulting from that exposure.

Nonetheless, the 99% are being held responsible for their inability to avoid the pollution and contamination created by the 1% for profit - and for the health impacts of that exposure. The key of course is lifestyle: chronic- and often extreme-exposure versus limited-exposure.

The 99% define the emerging mass-market in healthcare products, services and treatments. The traditional 3-tier market has been reduced to 2 tiers: the failing middleclass; and the working poor. The new focus is on "prevention" - and it's all about mitigating the health impacts of exposure to industrial contaminants and pollution. Obviously, the already-disabled and unemployed are not significant health consumers.

Investment Opportunities: The Prevention Market

Most health consumers remain addicted to the idea of "cures" and magic bullets, but the Prevention Market is growing. Here are the "Big Three" investment areas to watch.

1. Food

Fresh, uncontaminated food is essential to good health - but difficult to find. Exposure to industrial pollutants and contaminants in food and processed food products triggers a disease-causing epigenetic cellular response that also can be inherited. However, micro-nutrients from fresh, uncontaminated foods are known to override the epigenetic disease-response.



One of the most definitive studies describing the food-health-disease relationship was published in Nature magazine:

Obesity, Epigenetics, and Gene Regulation

…….Picture a network of molecules that are intimately intertwined with nuclear DNA and that have the power to silence genes. The behavior of this entourage of molecules can be altered by the environment (or "nurture," to use the terminology of the classic "nature versus nurture" debate) and can have a profound effect on an individual's phenotype. ….

Environmental Triggers
A number of environmental triggers have been shown to affect the behavior of an organism's epigenome, tipping the balance between methylation or lack thereof, and thus between genes that are "off" and those that are "on." ….

The implications of this discovery are staggering. With the rise of obesity in Americans coinciding with the widespread use of bisphenol A in everything from water bottles to dental sealants, one can't help wondering whether there is a causal connection. ….

But exactly how does exposure to bisphenol A affect both skin cells and brain cells? Through careful study, Jirtle found that the amount of DNA methylation was fairly consistent through an individual mouse's body. This result suggested that the demethylation that led to yellowness and obesity occurred in early development. ….bisphenol exposure didn't guarantee obesity in mice; rather, it simply increased the risk of developing obesity.

Environmental Protection
When gene expression goes awry during development, as in bisphenol-exposed mouse pups, the consequences can cause changes in adult mice that were not seen at birth. This phenomenon, called fetal programming, may play a role in many health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. ….

Recently, it has also been used to show that dietary factors can prevent the agouti gene from being turned on.

More specifically, not only did Jirtle's group find an increased risk of disease with maternal chemical exposure in mice, but they also noted that certain nutrients were protective. In particular, supplementing the mothers' diets with methyl-donating substances, such as folic acid and vitamin B12, was shown to counteract the reduction in DNA methylation caused by bisphenol A. In addition, a constituent of soy products called genistein prevented an increased number of unhealthy offspring. Whether a similar diet might reverse epigenetic effects once they appear, however, is unknown and awaits experimental testing. Despite such uncertainties, this epigenetic mechanism clearly demonstrates how profoundly environment can affect gene expression and phenotype in a long-lasting way.

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The battle for control of the food industry is heating up, but an informed and watchful eye will discern the best investment options. Keep your eye on vertical farming, as well as naturally-derived micro-nutrient supplements to replace synthetic vitamins.



2. Water

Fresh, uncontaminated water is essential to good health - but increasingly difficult to find. Virtually every continents' water is contaminated by industrial waste, pharmaceuticals dumped into waterways or excreted by increasingly-medicated human and animal populations, and more. Exposure to these industrial pollutants and contaminants in water triggers disease-causing epigenetic cellular responses that also can be inherited. While micro-nutrients can help override the epigenetic response, it is better to prevent initial exposures by drinking pure uncontaminated water.



The battle for control of the world's water is heating up, but an informed and watchful eye will discern the best investment options. Look for investment opportunities in fresh water sources, products and distribution, as well as filtration systems.

The article quoted above, Obesity, Epigenetics, and Gene Regulation, also applies to water-borne pollutants and contaminants.

3. Air

Fresh, uncontaminated air is essential to good health - but increasingly difficult to find, especially in cities. Studies abound linking air pollution with asthma, COPD, cancer and other chronic NCDs. For example:

The causes of deaths in an industry-dense area: example of Dilovasi

It is known that being exposed to air pollution for a long time increases the risk of respiratory illnesses and respiratory system cancers (20). It has also been observed that the mortality rate related to lung cancer has increased due to air pollution caused by industry (21,22). According to the World Health Report 2004, 12.5% of the deaths in the world are caused by cancer (12).

……Approximately 30,000 chemicals are commonly used today in industry and less than 1% of these have been subjected to a detailed assessment in terms of their toxicity and health risks (24). Some pollutants, such as suspended particular matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide, are used for routine air quality monitoring.

…….It may be possible for the chemical pollutants to enter the human body via the food chain and by the pollutants in both air and water. ….
…………………………
Also see: Air quality and health

Exposure to industrial pollutants and contaminants in air triggers disease-causing epigenetic cellular responses that also can be inherited. While micro-nutrients can help override the epigenetic disease-response, it is better to prevent initial exposures by breathing fresh, clean air.



At present, investment opportunities are limited to surgical masks, coin-operated oxygen dispensers on big-city streets, and air-filtration systems for residential and commercial buildings.

An informed and watchful eye will discern the best investment options. My advice? Wait for oxygen-dispensing add-ons to standard air-filtration systems for buildings, and handheld personal air-filtration devices with oxygen-dispensing capabilities.

I was just looking up commercial development on aquaponics farming. All organic system and filtration. Fresh fish, fruits and veggies, plus you save on never having to buy said items again. Then you can sell proceeds to stores n such.

Hard to acquire foods that are good for you, because as long as the FDA is in power, the *last* thing they want is for you to be healthy.

Healthy people don't produce pharmaceutical profits, and they are harder to control when they aren't being racked with pain 24/7 and able to think clearly because they aren't drooling idiots addicted to pharma drugs.

This is such an effed up planet.

reply to post by soficrow


Wow! nice post soficrow.
S&F for sure.
I have Never heard of vertical farming, I'm going to look into that. that's terrifying really. I'm surprised Mother Earth News hasn't brought that up, but I've missed a few issues here lately.
I learn something new here everytime I log on, thank you

Great post! F&S.

The sustainable technologies being developed right now are staggeringly innovative and incredible, really. It gives me hope to know that if events unfold in the near future to tip the scales toward a new collective, humanitarian paradigm, that we have the technology discovered already to make the transition.

I mean, the science is THERE. I seriously believe that we will reach that tipping point as a planet, things will align and implementing and incorporating such environmentally-sustainable methods of living will happen incredibly, ridiculously fast. I hope so, anyway. Right now there's little incentive for a company with enough capital to actually build and begin using these technologies, at least in the US, because of the overwhelming avarice within government and industry. However, I have a feeling that this will change, and very soon... and it will coincide with or be preceded by a change in the financial/economic system in the United States.

reply to post by horseplay


Thanks horseplay. Always glad to be of service.

Are private water filtration systems really marketable? Oh yeah. Just one source of aquifer and groundwater contamination:

Fracking Company Cuts Off Clean Water Shipments to Community They Contaminated

Families in a northeastern Pennsylvania village with tainted water wells will have to procure their own water for the first time in nearly three years as a natural-gas driller blamed for polluting the aquifer moves ahead with its plan to stop paying for daily deliveries.

Fracking is now happening worldwide and it is a serious threat to the people and the environment as poison is pumped into the ground and the shallow quakes which accompany all cracking sites will facilliate the destruction of groundwater supplies ...

You might think it is bad here in the U.S., but it is way worse in third world nations.

China's pollution problems are far more serious than mass media cares to recognize.

Of course our televisions keep asking us if we are properly medicated. Your life could be better if you do more drugs. With drugs, your potential is "Limitless".

reply to post by poet1b


Oh yeah, China's polluted. The bad news: we exported all our jobs. The good news: we exported the pollution too. 'Course those pesky atmospheric winds keep sending it back. [Did you know Africa gets wind-borne pollution from Europe and now, all the diseases that go with it? And wind-borne bacteria and viruses from Africa are killing off the coral in Australia's barrier reef? ....There's no escape.]

By 2030, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) will claim 52 million or 80 per cent of all deaths. But mortality is merely the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of millions more are living with disabling chronic illnesses that often leave them unable to work and participate fully in society, and many more will join their ranks.

……..W hile China’s factories crank out consumer goods for the planet, workers in these plants – who often toil in horrible conditions – are seeing their rates of respiratory illness and cancer soar.

…….the goal here is not to help people live forever. Rather, it is to stave off the ravages of illness and disability as long as possible to ensure a good life before a good death.

The only way to do that successfully is to invest in prevention, to invest in people, not diseases. Billions spent wisely today will save trillions tomorrow.

DYIers should check out "vertical gardens" - besides providing foods, indoor plants help filter air. Always a good thing.



Concept Vertical Garden lets you grow food on your window
How to make your own low-tech vertical farm

reply to post by soficrow


Nice link, thanks.

Here is a graph on the increasing number of natural disasters.

en.m.wikipedia.org...:Trends_in_natural_disasters.jpg

I notice it has been largely ignored that the scientific community has once against confirmed that global warming is a reality, and that humanity is contributing greatly to this change in our atmosphere. The rate of warming is accelerating, and the increases in severe weather events will also continue to accelerate. In addition, as the permafrost across the Arctic tundra melts, large amounts of Methane is starting to get released, which will accelerate the process.

The ICBers continue to put out propaganda through the media they own, catering to the all too large number of people who want to pretend that global warming isn't happening. It tells you how smart the people who control most of the money really are, or in other words, provides the evidence that our planet is being controlled by complete idiots.

I would say the current financial crisis is also an indicator of this reality.

reply to post by poet1b


Thanks. ...Seems clear the planet throws a lot of "natural" stressors at us - and equally clear that adding more stress on our hormonal, immune and nervous systems is just monumentally stupid. Or maybe a purposeful strategy to keep everyone overstressed physically, psychologically and epigenetically - thus easier to manipulate.

Who knows? But yeah, you can always tell what's happening in science and politics by the sheer volume of ridiculous claims that suddenly appear on the Net. Hard to sort, isn't it? .....Reminds me - I need to check out what's up with the Kyoto Accord.

a health centered or focused society/economy

is about the same as the Al Gore attempt to change the paradigm to a 'Carbon-tax adgenda.


No-Bamas' attempt to switch the tracks we are running on will fail... the
OWS awareness will finally 'sniff this out'
and the stench of the other 'crony' capitalism will knock us out...
thats after we are all reeling from the Federal Reserve/banksters 'crony capitalism' is fully revealed


www.alternet.org...

www.rollingstone.com...



the above are just TWO of the early 'articles' that will eventually lead to the popular 'revolt' of the rest-of-us
and convict these greedy churls listed in the reports linked

reply to post by St Udio

a health centered or focused society/economy ...is about the same as the Al Gore attempt to change the paradigm to a 'Carbon-tax adgenda.

That's pretty much the point I was trying to make - but my attempts at satire seem to have missed the mark.

Investment Opportunities: The Prevention Market

Most health consumers remain addicted to the idea of "cures" and magic bullets, but the Prevention Market is growing. Here are the "Big Three" investment areas to watch.

1. Food

Fresh, uncontaminated food is essential to good health - but difficult to find. ......

2. Water

Fresh, uncontaminated water is essential to good health - but increasingly difficult to find. .....

3. Air

Fresh, uncontaminated air is essential to good health - but increasingly difficult to find, .....