ABSTRACT
Although life expectancies for women and men have increased considerably in the industrial nations during the last 100 years, thanks to social change, medical progress and improved hygienic standards, certain illnesses such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD), stroke, malign tumors, dementia and osteoporosis have increased dramatically. The questionable advantages of better life circumstances for people in the industrialized nations, providing a surplus of food and therefore the consumption of too much fat, sugar and a high calorie intake, as well as increasing ecological damage, have lead to a 4.5 times higher incidence of malign diseases in those nations compared to unindustrialized, underdeveloped countries. Women and men from Southeast Asia have a comparatively significantly lower risk of cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, and prostate than the populations of Europe and the United States (US).
