Inaugural Lifestyle Medicine Editorial

Abstract

Sequencing supports a current scientific consensus that the SARS‐CoV2 coronavirus is of natural origin, with 96% homology with a bat coronavirus (RaTG13) and all six key residues from the pangolin spike receptor‐binding domain.3 We know the SARS virus had further outbreaks after the initial outbreak on at least four occasions at three labs in China, Taiwan, and Singapore.4 However, in May 2020 speculation continues about whether patterns of mobile phone activity in October 2019 indicate a “hazardous event” between 6 and 11 October causing a shutdown of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.5 There have been a variety of commentators, with academic leadership from the New England Journal ,6 JAMA ,7 and Lancet ,8 with Richard Horton critical about the unheeded timely warnings about testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements. The latest projections from the same team suggest 40 million deaths globally without mitigation.13 Another non‐peer‐reviewed paper from Imperial College from an Electrical Engineer and leader of the writing team for Right Care14 showed how simple second‐order modeling of death rates after effective social isolation measures were implemented could estimate much lower mortality in the range 4300‐7000 in the United Kingdom. Concerns about toxicity led the WHO to pause the hydroxychloroquine arm of the global Solidarity COVID‐19 Clinical Trial after a registry analysis was published showing higher mortality from hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine with and without macrolides was published in the Lancet (Mehra et al, 2020).16 However, inconsistencies in the data have already led to publication of an ‘expression of concern’ (Lancet, 2020),17 swiftly followed by retraction (Mehra, Ruschitzka & Patel, 2020)18 when Surgisphere would not comply with a full independent data review. 20, 21 However, the trends for these key pillars of lifestyle are disturbing: rising obesity is associated with lack of improvements in diet and activity and mortality, and the percentage of global total deaths per annum are increasing from ischemic heart disease (9.4 million deaths, 17%), diabetes mellitus (1.6 million deaths, 3%), and cancer (4.1 million deaths, 7%).