Had he said, "America is now sicker than at any time in our history," your point might support his view. Though given that at the time of the Founding, we had as common ailments typhus, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, measles, tuberculosis, smallpox, along with the ones we have nowadays if you didn't succumb to one of those, including diabetes, I don't think it would even justify that view. There's also the problem with quoting absolute numbers in historical and cross-country comparisons. 2024 estimates, the most recent I can find for cross-country comparisons put the rate of diabetes in the US population at 13.7%. Pakistan had a rate of 31.4%, and that's just the worst of the 40 countries or overseas dependencies that have worse diabetes rates than the US. So, on the "more diabetes proves a country is sicker standard, we are hardly the sickest country currently, much less in history.
If we are such a healthy country, then why are 66% of American adults taking at least one prescription medication?
Yeah, baby, that's healthy!
Modern medicine
manages disease, mainly by offsetting symptoms.
Not by curing it.
Not by preventing it.
The old food pyramid was a fast lane to metabolic disorders. That damage is done.
It's a cash cow, and they're milking it.
In 1970, roughly 2/3 (66%) of draft age men were able to pass the induction physical. Today, that number is given as 23%, fewer than one in four.
We may have more ways to avoid or manage disease, but we, as a population, are not healthier.
