Take Care of Body & Mind

By 2050, it is essential to rethink our approach to health to allow everyone to proactively and sustainably take care of their health capital. Investing in innovations in preventive and personalized healthcare, while developing accessible care devices and dedicated care infrastructures, is a priority. It also involves creating bridges between conventional medicine and traditional, so-called “soft” or “alternative” medicines, to move towards an integrated care pathway that promotes a better quality of daily life.

Three fundamental aspects affect the relationship between our diet and overall health (human and planetary): the degree of food processing (“Vrai/Real” as opposed to “false”, ultra-processed food), the proportion of animal/plant products (“Vegetable”) and dietary diversity (“Varied“).

In France, 50% of people are overweight or obese. In its 2022 report, the World Health Organisation sounded the alarm: the prevalence of overweight and obesity is rising steadily – and worryingly – and not a single European Member State looks set to meet the target of halting the rise in obesity by 2025. Obesity is a serious public health problem on a global scale, leading to a host of complications, including an increased risk of cancer – because excess weight increases the likelihood of 13 different types of cancer.

Like our gut microbiota, our immune system is established from birth. The delivery method and breastfeeding play an important role in the development of our immunity. The gut microbiota of a baby born by vaginal delivery is more varied than that of one born by caesarean section. This difference explains why two babies of the same weight and size have different levels of immunity.

Seen from the sky, our blue planet does not appear to be short of water. It is true that water covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface – but 97% of it is salty, and only 3% is freshwater. This freshwater is essential to the balance of ecosystems and our health.To make the best use of this resource, it is important to understand where it comes from and how it is used, so that we can develop the right habits individually and collectively.

In the past weeks, we shared 6 articles from 6 different reports of the Health Observatory Pro BTP. If you missed them, here a summary with the key learning.

French healthcare professionals are claiming that they are exhausted, particularly since the COVID19 episode. Patients are complaining that they are being treated like diseased organs rather than people during medical consultations that are becoming shorter and less frequent. And researchers are observing an increase in social and regional health inequalities. How can we move away from a vision in which health appears to be reduced to a hospital-centric system of diagnosis and treatment?

Night always follows day, but no two nights are the same. Just as our smartphones, tablets and laptops need to be recharged, our sleep allows us to recharge or reset our brain to help it perform at its best.

Migraines are recurrent, severe and debilitating headaches that affect 10 to 15% of the world’s population, with 6 to 8% of sufferers being severely affected. They are often accompanied by nausea, vomiting and visual disturbances.

Who would have thought it? Our microbiota could influence our motivation and performance.

When we are born, another birth takes place at the same: that of our gut microbiota. Also known as the “intestinal flora”, this microbial ecosystem, with which we live in symbiosis, comprises no fewer than 40,000 billion bacteria and other microorganisms that populate our gastrointestinal tract, particularly our large bowel. Over the last fifteen years or so, scientists have been able to study this ecosystem more closely and gain a better understanding of it. And they all agree on one point: there is a strong link between our general health and our gut microbiota.