Think about the effect that antibiotics have had on our economy. Prior to the discovery of penicillin, over one hundred thousand people per year died from pneumonia infection alone. Hundreds of thousands more died from other bacterial infections. The introduction of penicillin into routine medical practice in the 1940’s reduced the mortality rates from pneumonia and many other infectious diseases down near to zero. Since 1940, numerous antibiotics in addition to penicillin have been developed and have helped to control hundreds of different diseases. Antibiotics have probably done more to reduce human suffering than any other discovery in medical history.

The benefits of antibiotics to America and the world haven’t been limited to the medical sphere alone. The impact that antibiotics have had on the American economy is overwhelming. The economic impact of infectious disease in the 1920’s and 30’s (pre penicillin) was staggering. Every person who got sick from pneumonia, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and even strep throat had to be cared for, and this proved a drain on both hospitals and patient’s families. More importantly (from a purely economic standpoint), men who sickened and died from these infections represented a huge loss to the work force.

Penicillin significantly shortened the duration of pneumonia and other bacterial diseases, in addition to vastly reducing their mortality. Both effects paid handsome economic benefits. Health care costs were reduced, and workers who contracted diseases like pneumonia recovered quickly, returning to their jobs. We don’t know the total impact that penicillin had on the US economy in the 1940’s (none of us like math, and no one else seems to have done the calculations), but, in today’s terms, it was surely well into the billions.

Since 1950 health care has progressively become a larger and larger part of the US economy. Today we spend more on health care than on any other industry – in excess of two trillion dollars per year. If it weren’t for antibiotics, hospitals would be flooded with sick people, many of whom would die, and this number would be a lot higher. Billions and billions of dollars higher. And that’s just from the immediate cost of caring for these people, without taking account of lost work hours (sick people aren’t out doing their jobs).

What does any of this have to do with ReEvolution? Here’s the rub. The total economic impact that antibiotics have had on this country pales in comparison to what a nationwide wellness movement can do.

The health of America is in a state of crisis. The economic impact of this crisis is overwhelming. The 2 trillion plus dollars we spend each year on health care is more than twice as much as most European nations per capita. Yet with by far the largest per capita health care budget in the world we lag behind most European countries in terms of obesity, incidence of heart disease and cancer, and many other health-related quality of life measures. Life expectancy is a good measure of the health of a population. Currently 28 nations have a higher life expectancy than the US, and all of these nations spend a lot less on health care.

The reasons for this are simple. As a country, our diet, exercise, and general health habits are atrocious. We eat more and move less than just about any other people in the world. But more than how much we eat, what we eat is tearing our bodies apart. The average American consumes over 150 pounds of white sugar per year. Sugar is, quite simply, a metabolic toxin that contributes to diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and cancer. Levels of consumption of white flour (little better than sugar) aren’t far behind those of sugar. Give it twenty years, and we’ll look at sugar and white flour the way we look at tobacco today. In addition to sugar and flour, artery clogging trans fats are in everything. Beyond this, the amount of pesticide, preservatives, dyes, and other chemicals added to our food supply is staggering. All of these factors are devastating our health.

Heart disease and cancer are the two biggest killers in America. Beyond being responsible for more deaths than any other conditions, both diseases place an extraordinary financial burden on the health care system. The direct cost of heart disease on the economy is estimated at over 30 billion annually. Cancer isn’t far behind. Type II Diabetes, the rates of which are skyrocketing purely as a result of poor diet and lack of exercise, costs us over 100 billion per year.

The rates of heart disease and cancer could be drastically reduced if Americans started living more healthfully; eating better, exercising, and not smoking. Type II diabetes (most cases of diabetes are type 2) could be virtually eliminated. The immediate economic benefits of reductions in heart disease, cancer, and diabetes alone could be in the hundreds of billions. No one is really sure how much diet, exercise, and general lifestyle variables have to do with other diseases like Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, etc, but we do know that susceptibility to these diseases is powerfully influenced by environment and behavior. Better health habits would probably manifest in reduced rates of these, and other, diseases as well. All in all, it’s reasonable to estimate that a powerful cultural movement in America towards a healthier way of life could reduce health care expenditures by several hundred billion, if not a trillion, dollars. These numbers are so large they sound ridiculous, but this is because the sheer amount of money we waste treating preventable disease is so ridiculous.

This reduction in health care costs that wellness can create, while phenomenal in itself, would pale in comparison to the effect that a nationwide wellness movement could have on productivity. A healthier population would lose billions fewer work hours to illness. Early retirements due to disease would be substantially reduced. The benefits wouldn’t end here. The fatigue, lethargy, trouble focusing, and slowed thinking that go hand in hand with a poor diet and lack of exercise probably cost this country billions as well. A healthier, fitter population would be a lot more focused and productive.