The UK is facing a national health crisis. Poor health is placing an ever-increasing strain on the health service, while life expectancy has stalled for the first time in over a century. Ex-England football star Rio Ferdinand has teamed up with DNAFit – the UK’s leading wellness genetics company – to launch his DNAFit Academy, a new project designed help combat this concerning trend.
To kick off the campaign Rio returned to his old neighbourhood in Peckham – an area which has one of the lowest life expectancies and highest obesity rates, to speak to local youngsters, parents, old friends and residents about how they view their health and what preventative steps they take to maintain it. Sparking conversation around diet, fitness and hereditary diseases, Rio’s DNAFit Academy aims to get people talking about health and how to improve it, putting prevention firmly in the foreground.
The heart of the issue
According to new research conducted by the DNAFit Academy, a huge 85% of respondents always wait until they are ill before seeing a doctor, while more than two-thirds do not believe they’re at risk of an inherited disease which could impact their health and wellbeing. Shockingly, more than half do not know ANY of the usual signs of cancer, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, while 1 in 5 did not know that DNA plays a role in health and wellbeing at all.
Despite having greater access to information than ever before, the evidence points to the fact that a significant proportion of the British population fail to notice potential warning signs.
UK health care is founded on a treatment rather than prevention model. The tendency is to carry on as if there’s nothing wrong, often until it’s too late. Over half of those asked regard seeking medical help as ‘making a fuss’ despite this often putting more strain on medical services when they are forced to treat a more developed condition further down the line.
The DNAFit Academy’s Mission
Much like past campaigns dealing with unhealthy school dinners and lack of exercise, Rio Ferdinand’s DNAFit Academy is looking to tackle the problem head on, believing that championing a preventative approach to health could help save lives. The programme will offer insight and information to consumers on how to make positive lifestyle changes, as well as providing tools to help individuals discover their personal health risks and needs. The DNAFit Academy will provide everyone who takes a DNAFit test with insight on the food and exercise that their body will genetically respond best to, as well as potential diseases they may be more susceptible to developing – allowing users to make immediate changes to diet and lifestyle and monitor their future health fully informed. The project will run throughout 2019, with the aim of providing people of all ages, gender and race the opportunity to take positive, preventative steps to improve their health and wellbeing.
