Vitality Group Inc.

I love this chart. Firstly, I'm struck by how much progress we've made as humanity in increasing the availability of food. We are tremendously privileged to live in a time where food is abundance! Secondly, it's fascinating to zoom in on the 20th century - you can see the impact of global and local political upheaval on food supply, like WWII and the Great Chinese Famine. Moving into the 21st century, calories/kJ per person continue to increase, but at a slower rate. The US now supplies over 15,000 kJ per person per day, or over 3,500 calories, significantly more than the daily recommended calorie intake for an adult of about 2,200. As food supplies have increased, so has consumption. The USDA estimates that the average daily calorie intake in the USA is a whopping 3,540. The impact of this can’t be understated. When you plot calorie intake versus obesity prevalence using USDA data (https://shorturl.at/jSzey), a straight line can be fitted with a R-squared of 0.93 (extremely strong fit). Each 100-calorie increase in daily consumption corresponds to a 4.2% increase in the prevalence of obesity. In 1960, just over 10% of US adults were obese. Now, over 40% of adults are obese and related chronic conditions are skyrocketing. While we shouldn’t reduce good nutrition to just controlling calories (eating nutritious, wholesome, balanced meals is vital), in a world where food is in abundance, we need to rethink our relationship with food. As healthcare businesses and employers, we need to think about how we’re supporting people to make better decisions about what and how much they eat. We need to educate members about food, remove barriers to eating healthy, and provide motivation to help them get started. It’s great to work at a company, Vitality Group Inc., where we’re working on the art of behavior change and helping people eat healthier. #FoodIsMedicine #Nutrition #Obesity 

Like many of you, I don't sleep long enough or well enough. Scarily, a meta-analysis published by the American Diabetes Association found that adults with a sleep duration standard deviation of more than 1 hour have a 34% higher risk for diabetes, with lowest type 2 diabetes risk at 7–8 h per day of sleep duration. At Vitality Group Inc. we help people sleep (and move and eat) better. And we see the impact of good sleep reflected in our own data. 30,000 members who successfully completed a Sleep Well cycle (8 hours of device-recorded overnight downtime for 20 out of 30 nights) had a 21% lower Vitality Age differential than members who did not complete a Sleep Well Cycle. Meaning the gap between their risk-adjusted and chronological ages was far smaller. Yet, I still struggle to make the necessary changes to sleep better. Curious to hear your thoughts on how I can do better!

New research (https://lnkd.in/gtpVd8hx) has found that deaths from dementia have tripled over the last two decades, and the chances of dying from dementia have increased among every demographic group studied. While age is the most significant risk factor for dementia, the Lancet Commission on Dementia (https://lnkd.in/g7Vjqbxz) found that nearly half of dementia cases may be preventable by 14 modifiable risk factors. Physical inactivity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and social isolation all have been found to play a role.  With new evidence pointing to a stronger link between healthy lifestyle habits and a reduction in risk of developing dementia, it’s more important than ever to help people develop healthy habits now to improve their long-term health. While it’s not easy to change these behaviors, we’ve built out extensive expertise in helping our members do so. It requires sophisticated personalization and leveraging behavioral science in an engaging member experience. It’s particularly important to engage the at-risk and seamlessly integrate condition management strategies, which can unlock significant health outcome improvements.  The evidence continues to mount on the downstream impact of lifestyle habits and primary prevention. Our validated Impact Study (https://lnkd.in/gi_EDB5Z) demonstrates that our program drives high levels of engagement that create behavior change, delivering ROI in the short term. This research and others show that the benefits of lifestyle change compound over time, creating a profound impact on the lives of our members, clients and society. It’s why our core purpose of “Making People Healthier” is so compelling.