Dr Alan Desmond

speaker

206 appearances 2 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 5 Jul

Dr Alan Desmond’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 2.

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Alive and Kicking with Clare McKenna · Alive and Kicking Full Episode 5/7/26 · 5 Jul 2026 podcast

They would not have believed it.

But while our lifespan has increased substantially, in recent years we've seen this really worrying trend emerge.

Our lifespan is getting longer, but our health span, the number of years,

that we spend being healthy and vibrant and active is decreasing.

So right now this uh you know this imaginary Irish woman would have a life expectancy of 84 years, but her health span is likely to be about 65 years.

So she is likely to spend about 20 years of her life living with illness or reduced function uh due to chronic disease, heart disease, frailty, uh, the side effects of cancer or cognitive decline.

And in fact, in the UK where I live and work now, the health span of a UK adult has decreased by two years in the last decade.

And of course, there are many factors responsible for that, but our food system is one of the leading drivers of that.

Due to the way we feed ourselves now, one in four adults globally is living with.

Chronically impaired metabolic health, poor metabolic health.

In the UK, Ireland, the US, um, and across Europe, it's more like four in ten.

So four in ten adults are living with poor metabolic health, which is basically a syndrome of chronic inflammation and insulin resistance that leaves you at an increased risk of multiple health problems.

And as you say, the children of generation alpha born between 2010 and 2024.

uh which includes my children, are growing up in a world where their future health is far from guaranteed.

And they if if these trends continue, they will be the first generation in modern history to have shorter health spans than their parents.

Um which is absolutely startling, isn't it?

Fiber is the nutrient, fiber is the supplement.

You're absolutely right.

So as a gastroenterologist, I'm a huge fan of fiber.

And uh we recommend that people get at least 30 grams of dietary fiber per day.

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