Continued: Editorial counterpoint: What are our priorities for prevention?

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One might say that a drop of 0.9 percent from an already low incidence is a low risk reduction, especially if you are the one having to pay $3.45 a day on a fixed income. Is this 0.9 percent risk reduction worth $2,500 to the person? Is the one fewer heart attack over two years in an asymptomatic, otherewise healthy population worth $300,000 ($2,500 x 120 people) to the government, self-insured company or insurance company? Could the same reduction be achieved by less expensive means? After all, low vitamin D drives inflammation and doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke. Omega-3s are as powerful as statins in prevention of secondary heart attacks and strokes. Both reduce all-cause mortality. And we know that mind-body approaches for stress reduction are powerfully synergistic.

So, given the potential cost savings, why are state governments, the federal government, corporations and insurance companies not funding studies in low-cost, low-toxicity, self-care interventions?

Maybe we citizens should insist that nonpharmaceutical prevention mesures be at the top of the research agenda.

Gregory A. Plotnikoff, M.D., is medical director in the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

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