The Surprising Reason Americans Are Far Less Healthy Than Others in Developed Nations

[groovedaddy]

Let’s talk life expectancy.

The stats first. They tell a shocking story: Americans now live shorter lives than men and women in most of the rest of the developed world. And that gap is growing.

Back in 1990, shouts a new study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the United States ranked a lowly 20th on life expectancy among 34 major industrial nations. The United States now ranks 27th — despite spending much more on health care than any other nation.

Americans, notes the AMA journal, are losing ground globally “by every” health measure.

http://www.alternet.org/surprising-reason-americans-are-far-less-healthy-others-developed-nations?akid=10840.260941.3bEFb6&rd=1&src=newsletter886340&t=7

[hlthe2b]

1. I think many won't bother to read the article, but should know the issue is economic inequality

From the article:

And none of these determinants matter more, these researchers contend, than economic inequality, the divide between the affluent and everyone else. Over 170 studies worldwide have so far linked income inequality to health outcomes. The more unequal a modern society, the studies show, the more unhealthy most everyone in it — and not the poor alone.

Just how does inequality translate into unhealthy outcomes? Growing numbers of researchers see stress as the culprit. The more inequality in a society, the more stress. Chronic stress, over time, wears down our immune systems and leaves us more vulnerable to disease.

snip

Can the United States change course on health?

Japan offers an encouraging precedent. Sixty years ago, Japan ranked as a deeply unequal and unhealthy nation. But, since the 1950s, Japan has become one of the world’s most equal places and, on life expectancy, now ranks number one globally.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. I would expect the Japanese stress to increase now

due to increasing problems at Fukishima and most certainly among the evacuated population.

[Warpy]

2. Every day and in every way

the concentration of wealth away from working people is killing us.

If the government won't claw it back from them in taxes, it's going to be necessary for us to do it.

Our lives depend on it.

[LiberalEsto]

3. That's because they want to kill most of us

It's easier to manager a smaller population of serfs.

[SheilaT]

7. A smaller population of serfs, as you put it,

would actually have much more power and would be harder to control.

When the Bubonic plague killed a third to a half of the population of Europe, in the long run wages went up, serfs were no longer tied to the land, and innovation of all sorts came about because there was no longer the sheer human power to do labor has there had been. In many ways the huge death toll laid the groundwork for the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution after that.

I know that there's a common wisdom that much of the innovation of the past century or so has been in no small part fueled by the sheer number of people who are able to think about things and tinker with stuff, and of course that's true. Meanwhile, as the earth's population has skyrocketed in the last fifty years, that very population grown has been a strong impetus for outsourcing and sending jobs overseas. Companies constantly seek cheaper and cheaper labor, which they can do so long as a large labor pool exists somewhere else, willing to work for smaller and smaller wages.

It is the vast herds that are easier to control, not the smaller herds.

[grilled onions]

4. Stress By Any Other Name

There are many groups of unhealthy Americans and each has a sad story of it's own. You have those who are obviously poor and postpone anything medical so when they get something wrong it "stays" wrong until it's almost too late be it medical or dental or even mental issues. You have those who should be enjoying a good life but instead their jobs are always on the line. Many are under employed. This group gets very stressed and may over eat or over drink to compensate for that feeling of always being on edge,fearing job loss,losing home,car etc. They may eat because there is nothing left and their food choices may not be the greatest because they are angry or because they often can't afford the better choices.
Back to the poor group many fear going outside for a walk and refuse to allow their kids to play--even in the yard. This group certainly cannot afford a years pass at the health club.
In the fifties everyone seemed to have a good future. If you didn't much of the blame could be on your shoulders. Today there are so many issues to blame for the lack of happiness,decent futures many don't even know where to turn,who to blame or what to do. They educate themselves only to find out there are no jobs in that field. Still paying on that student loan they plunge into another field. All the while they work flipping burgers, wondering when the nightmare will end. Sadly it never does for many.
Seniors have another kind of nightmare. They have lived passed their savings. Companies screwed many out of retirement money,pensions and 401K plans. Our wonderful leaders are doing their best to threaten them even further with telling them that we must get rid of social security, medicare, food stamps--already shutting down meals on wheels and many senior centers. They live in fear every day. Can they afford to eat? Can they afford to see the doctor,take their meds? How far will their money stretch this month? Most cannot ask their children because their are in a bind of their own. We have never had it where three generations are struggling at the same time!!!!

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. And it's hard to eat right when fast food dollar meals

are more inexpensive than buying good food.

You can buy a bean burrito at Taco Bell for $1. Of course it is just loaded with fat and salt but it sure is better than no food at all.

[SheilaT]

8. Here's something else that never seems to be considered

in all the many things out there about the relative unhealthiness of Americans.

It's not just fast food, it's processed food. It's the artificially flavored sugar water that almost everyone consumes several times a day. Sometimes, when I'm in the grocery store and I take a glance at what's in other people's shopping carts, I'm truly astonished at the two and three and more cases of soft drinks. Why? For one thing, that stuff isn't cheap. For another, it cannot possibly be doing anyone any good.

I've always been amazingly healthy. I'm old enough that when I was growing up, having a soft drink was maybe a once a week, or at best a couple of times a week treat. It was not a daily thing. Along with the rest of the culture, as I grew up and went out on my own I started drinking soft drinks a lot more often, usually two or three times a day. Along with a standard amount (whatever that might be) of fast food and processed foods.

About twenty years ago, when I realized my younger son was drinking far more soft drinks than really was good for him, I simply stopped buying them. I'll admit, it felt like a sacrifice. Over time, it became easier and easier to forego them, and now I have maybe one a month. And I almost never get fast food, and not too much processed foods. I'm not a total purist, I do not fix every single thing completely from scratch. But if I bake cookies or brownies, I never use a mix. Never. It's amazing how good the real thing tastes.

Anyway, my ultimate point is that all of these little things add up. Even if you don't smoke, don't drink much, keep a good weight, get a moderate amount of exercise, you still may be unknowingly consuming foods that in the long run are doing damage.

I'm certainly not suggesting that the income inequality and connected stress don't matter a lot. But I'd really be interested in seeing a more in-depth analysis of the components of diet in different countries.