The report issued from the House of Commons’ Health Committee concludes that it will be the first generation where children die before their parents as a consequence of childhood obesity. This will due to a much more fast pace of living, where quantity and the convenience factor win over healthier options (see figure 4). Children will continue to spend less time in direct contact with nature, therefore lacking in physical fitness causing worries of hyperactivity and attention deficit that in turn create their own worries.
Figure 4: A few of the fast food outlets adding to the problem
Following this worry of increased cases of ADHD and hyperactivity, a forecast of a mental health crisis is questioned. Medical expects are predicting a future of growing mental health issues due to gradual changes in the national UK diet and poor lifestyle choices over the last 20 years. Dr Malcolm Peet at the University of Sheffield predicts that changes in farming and food techniques, such as feeding livestock on processed grain instead of essential grass will decrease the presence of the essential acids we need, with a low consumption of fruit and vegetables not helping the problem.
Obesity is a direct link into diabetes and also heart disease, hence the previous prediction of blindness and amputees, as these are possible side effects. This type of lifestyle also puts us at risk of stokes and cancer as this threat continues to rise.
“The situation across the Atlantic is even worse. Will obesity-related diseases increase in the UK as well? I’d say that will happen and they will be coming on progressively earlier in people’s lives.”
This statement comes from Jane Wardle, a professor of psychology who works in the Cancer Research UK health behaviour unit in London.
However in the future we will have the power to eliminate many of these problems through new technological advances. For example we will be able to create disease-free embryos, having the option to choose our future child’s health and breed out certain genetically determined conditions.
Figure 5: cosmetic surgery used as a fashion accessory
Further advancement in technology will also increase the likelihood and availability of us having plastic surgery. People will think of surgery as a lifestyle choice, with it being a consumer purchase (see figure 5). Vivienne Parry of the Guardian reports that this path has already been set by the media, for example of dramas and reality TV shows. A major flaw in this type of surgery has been the risk of rejection. Although by the year 2027 tissue engineering will have been corrected, enabling a patient to have a body part grown to order using unique cell tissue. This advancement of being able to grow bone and skin in 3D shape will undeniably change the practice of science. Research carried out by Professor Mark Ferguson and his team at Manchester University has helped in the development of drugs to prevent scarring after healing, being available from 2020 onwards.
On the downside there is a worry that by 2020 the private sector will have taken all the talented surgeons leaving the NHS with a shortage; this is a real possibility with this already happening in the US.
After finding that the population will be an ageing one in 2020 disability becomes much more prevalent, particularly chronic disability which will put stress on medical care. Disability will show at a much younger age, which will be tomorrow’s elderly therefore increasing health care costs.
A cure of cancer has always been at the forefront of our nation’s health care priorities and although a cure is not mentioned as yet progressing research is said to give us more treatments. Robert Weinberg, based at the Whitehead Institute of Technology in Boston believes that previous finding like the Human Genome Project, which has providing researchers with a complete inventory of all the human genes will make it increasingly easier to design drugs that attack very specific tumours.
“My guess is that about 25% of cancers that currently are fatal will be treated successfully, either cured or reduced to chronic but tolerable conditions”
Weinberg on cancer cures.
This optimism is shared by many other researchers, for example Ian Fraser, a cancer expert at the University of Queensland focuses his attention on possible vaccines against chronic infections before they lead to cancer. He predicts that these vaccines will be in place by 2020, eliminating infections such as hepatitis C, which leads to liver cancer and Leukaemia also leading to a HTLV-1 cancer. The revolutionary technology of stem cell science and cloning could also be used to create neurons, heart muscle and pancreatic tissue for patients, using cells from their own skin.
