This improvement comes from technology: sewage systems, fresh water, advances in medical science, and developments in food technology.
From Progress to Decline
But about fifty years ago the graph started to flatten, and about twenty years ago it started to drop. We are no longer living longer. On average we are becoming fatter and suffering from a range of non-infectious or chronic diseases like diabetes and dementia. People in old age are becoming less healthy and more infirm.
Technology is having a dramatic impact on human society. It is self-evident that technology should work for the benefit of humanity as a whole, yet this is not universally true. It is creating a society in which a handful of people—the top executives and shareholders of mega-corporations—are becoming excessively rich while a significant proportion of the general population is going backwards.
The earliest diets were nutrient-dense and gut-supportive, but low in energy.
Innovation and Responsibility
I am an innovator in new technology. I was recently acknowledged by the Institute of Engineers as one of Australia’s top one hundred leading innovators for my pioneering work on computer-aided engineering, which literally changed an industry.
But I believe that those of us who have had the good luck to be born with an innovative mind and create new technologies have a responsibility to ensure that technology works for the benefit of the human community as a whole, not an already rich few.
Food, Gut Biology and Chronic Disease
I now focus my technical capabilities on studying and experimenting with how the way we grow our food affects our health. Our guts form part of an intelligent control system which manages our body. When healthy, it instructs our bodies to store just the right amount of fat as a food reserve.
Modern diets, high in sugars and fats and low in essential nutrients and biology, confuse this control system. It then sends instructions to store excess fat in the wrong places, such as our organs and brains, leading to diabetes, dementia and other chronic diseases.
We Can Grow Better Food
We now have the technology to grow food that restores our gut biology and supports long-term health—but that is not enough. We also need to develop alternative food distribution systems so that this kind of food is actually available to ordinary people, not just a privileged few.
Why We Need a Biofoodies Group
To make real change, we must connect people who care about how food is grown, distributed and eaten. A biofoodies group can bring together growers, innovators, health professionals and everyday consumers who want food that supports gut biology and prevents chronic disease, not food that simply maximises profit.
We need communities that share knowledge, experiment with better ways of growing, and support local, nutrient-dense food systems as a practical alternative to industrial, health-damaging food.
