3 biggest health hazards threaten all Americans, says oncologist
The American healthcare system is "broken," says an Arizona oncologist — and he's sharing what he thinks needs to change.
Ahead of RFK Jr.'s confirmation as head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Dino Prato spoke on camera with Fox News Digital about what is putting people's health at risk — and why he supports the new administration's efforts to Make America Healthy Again.
"MAHA is really a nationwide movement, where people are fed up with big pharma and big food," he said.
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As CEO of Envita Medical Centers in Scottsdale, Prato's focus is delivering "personalized, integrated medicine" to cancer patients, as well as taking steps to prevent the widespread disease.
"Our focus is getting rid of chemicals, toxins and all the things that are carcinogenic that have been ignored in the United States," he said.
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Prato shared what he sees as the top three hazards to Americans' health.
"I think the No. 1 problem in America is the chronic disease of obesity," Prato said, largely due to "insulin receptor sensitivity issues," which is when the body's cells become less responsive to insulin.
"I would call it metabolic disease — and that can be simple and sometimes complicated, because everybody reacts to food differently," he said.
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"And we know that people's risk for cancer increases if they have bad metabolic disease, because insulin and glucose feed tumors."
Eliminating processed foods is "critical" to ending the obesity epidemic, according to Prato, along with exercising regularly and eating more nutrient-dense foods, including "good quality fruits and vegetables, and grass-fed meats."
In terms of preventing cancer, heart disease and diabetes, Prato said that infectious diseases is a "very huge" risk factor that is often overlooked.
"A lot of people will falsely present with an autoimmune disease, like fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis, when the underlying cause is an infection that goes undiagnosed and untreated," he noted.
In these cases, the patients may be prescribed expensive autoimmune disease drugs that just manage the symptoms but don't actually treat the cause, according to the doctor.
Some viruses can actually trigger autoimmune diseases, Prato cautoned, and many cancers are caused by infections.
"The answer to that is building good immunity in the body and having good response so that our bodies can fight these subacute infections," he said.
The third major health hazard, according to Prato, are the chemical toxins and heavy metals that are found in the food and water Americans consume, as well as the air they breathe.
"Our bodies are just not designed to detoxify or eliminate these problems," he said. "We also know that chemical toxins are carcinogenic."
Americans' food supply is a "very important part" of eliminating toxicity, Prato added. "A lot of these foods we eat are laced with carcinogens."
The biggest obstacle that is keeping Americans from living healthier lives, Prato said, is lack of motivation to make changes.
In many cases, he said, patients think they're healthy but just don't have the right information.
"If we do deeper dives and we run deeper data, all of a sudden the patients are motivated," the doctor noted.
"We need to have better data analytics for our patients, which already exists, and when doctors act as coaches to the patient, the motivation changes."
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Americans as a whole are also overly reliant on expensive medications as a way to manage chronic illnesses, according to Prato.
"We put people on long-term management and we keep adding pills, but we're not getting to the core of what's causing the disease," he said.
Ultimately, Prato said, no pharmaceutical drug is going to solve the chronic disease epidemic.
Instead, the key to breaking the cycle is educating patients, identifying their needs and then "working as hard as you can to radically improve outcomes."
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health
"I think that's why this MAHA movement is such a big deal and there's so much excitement behind it for moms and families, because people see that what's what's going on right now isn't working."Original article source: 3 biggest health hazards threaten all Americans, says oncologist
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