一个1996年以优异成绩通过体检的男人，今天患有四种疾病，而他体内任何一个指标都没有变化。

血压135/85。胆固醇210。空腹血糖105。BMI 26。

在1996年，这是一个健康无虞的证明和一次握手。今天同一个男人，同样的血液，却被诊断为高血压、高胆固醇、糖尿病前期和超重。四种诊断，他从未染上任何疾病。

1997年：糖尿病标准从140降到126。一夜之间新增170万糖尿病患者。

1997年：高血压标准从160/100降到140/90。新增1300万患者。

1998年：高胆固醇标准从240降到200。新增4200万患者。

1998年：超重标准从BMI 27降到25。2900万人晚上睡觉时还是正常人，醒来就有了体重问题。

2003年：糖尿病前期标准从110扩大到100。现在涵盖9800万美国人，超过每3个成人中的1个，而世界卫生组织拒绝用这个名称来称呼这种状况。

2017年：血压标准再次降低到130/80。又新增3100万患者。美国近一半成人被诊断为高血压。

当2004年胆固醇目标再次收紧时，撰写这些标准的九名男子中有八人曾收受生产他汀类药物的公司的报酬。

没有病菌。没有爆发。没有单根动脉的变化。只是一个房间、一场投票，以及每条界线另一边等待着的药片。

在医学的其他分支，你必须生病才能成为患者。在这一分支，他们把疾病带给你。

最后一批健康人，是那些尚未接受检测的人。

A man who passed his medical in 1996 with flying colours has four diseases today, and not one number in his body has changed.

Blood pressure 135/85. Cholesterol 210. Fasting blood sugar 105. BMI of 26.

In 1996 that was a clean bill of health and a handshake. Today the same man, with the same blood, is hypertensive, has high cholesterol, is prediabetic and overweight. Four diagnoses, and he never caught a thing.

1997: the line for diabetes drops from 140 to 126. 1.7 million new diabetics by morning.

1997: high blood pressure drops from 160/100 to 140/90. 13 million new patients.

1998: high cholesterol drops from 240 to 200. 42 million new patients.

1998: overweight drops from a BMI of 27 to 25. 29 million people go to bed normal and wake up with a weight problem.

2003: prediabetes is widened from 110 to 100. It now covers 98 million Americans, more than 1 adult in 3, for a condition the World Health Organization declines to call by that name.

2017: blood pressure again, down to 130/80. Another 31 million. Nearly half the adults in America are hypertensive.

When the cholesterol targets were tightened again in 2004, eight of the nine men who wrote them had been paid by companies that make statins.

No germ. No outbreak. No change in a single artery. Just a room, a vote, and a tablet waiting on the far side of every line.

In every other branch of medicine you have to get ill to become a patient. In this one they bring the disease to you.

The last healthy people are the ones who haven't been tested yet. @SamaHoole