The more we learn about the symbiotic existence of everything within the food chain, the more apparent it becomes that mankind has no one to blame but itself for the emergence of some of our most challenging health trends.

In this article, I will focus on two significant health threats:

•  Alzheimer’s disease, a severe form of neurodegenerative brain disorder that now claims over half a million American lives each year, making it the third leading cause of death in the US, right behind heart disease and cancer.^1,2

Compared to heart disease and cancer it is also the most expensive. The average cost of care for a dementia patient during the last five years of life is over $287,000, with an out-of-pocket expense of more than $61,500 for those on Medicare.³

•  Lyme disease, and a new emerging tick-borne disease that resembles Lyme; both of which are very difficult to diagnose and treat

Alzheimer’s and Lyme Disease Originate in Food Chain Disruptions

When we look closely at the causes of these diseases, we find their origins in the food production system. In our efforts to create a cheaper food system, we’ve cut too many corners, and made too many dangerous shortcuts.

And these errors in judgment are now costing us in terms of skyrocketing health problems and enormous psychological distress.

Research suggests Alzheimer’s and other neurological degeneration may be driven by two diet-related problems: excessive sugar consumption, and the creation of brain-wasting proteins in our meat supply, which is the result of turning herbivores into carnivores.

Interestingly, new evidence suggests that Lyme disease may be primarily driven by the elimination of natural predators.

Rodents are the number one tick-bearing host spreading the disease, and agricultural and urban sprawl have eliminated many of the rodent’s natural predators, allowing populations to grow, and with them comes infected ticks.

Below I will expand on these errors in human judgment that have allowed these (and other) diseases to flourish.