Castro's Diet and Exercise Plan

Ronald Bailey | September 25, 2007

In his "documentary" Sicko, Michael Moore failed to cite one of Cuban socialism's true health triumphs--the reduction of heart disease and diabetes among Cubans during the 1990s. A new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University finds that the Cuban economic collapse had a health upside. As the study's abstract reports:

Cuba's economic crisis of 1989-2000 resulted in reduced energy intake, increased physical activity, and sustained population-wide weight loss...The crisis reduced per capita daily energy intake from 2,899 calories to 1,863 calories. During the crisis period, the proportion of physically active adults increased from 30% to 67%, and a 1.5-unit shift in the body mass index distribution was observed, along with a change in the distribution of body mass index categories. The prevalence of obesity declined from 14% to 7%, the prevalence of overweight increased 1%, and the prevalence of normal weight increased 4%.

In the press release reporting the study researcher Manuel Franco notes:

"Future steps towards prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes should focus on long-term population-wide interventions by encouraging physical activity and the reduction of caloric intake."

By "population-wide interventions" I suspect Franco doesn't mean the imposition of backward socialist economic policies. At least I hope he doesn't.