Obesity Does Not Affect Life Expectancy Says New Study
Obesity not a factor in life expectancy
According to a new study just published by the International Journal of Epidemiology, life expectancy is not affected by the modern problems of obesity.
The study which covers lifestyle trends over the last 40 years indicates that the amount spent per head on health care does not ensure that you live longer. The USA spends more on health than any other developed country in the world but the findings indicate that the life expectancy in America is no better than the poorer countries in Europe.
Health expert David Leon of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that the study did not back up many experts predictions that the epidemic of obesity would bring to an end the rising expectancy trend in wealthier countries.
In 2007, the life expectancy level in the U.S. was 78 years and in Britain it was 80 years, Leon who studies population health says “This simple observation once again underlines that GDP and health-care expenditure per capita are not good predictors of population health within high income countries.”
Leon points out the importance played in the upward trend of life expectancy by the advancement in the cardiovascular treatments available to people today, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) cardiovascular disease is responsible for the deaths of over 17 million people each year.
Population health expert David Leon
The report shows comparisons between developed countries and takes Europe as an example, it compares the western part with the pre-Berlin wall countries and shows that as the lifestyle slowly equalised after the wall fell, so did the heart related death statistics, albeit slowly.
Britain is an example in particular Leon says, heart related death rates have seen some of the largest falls in any western country partly due to better treatment but also due to the change in attitudes towards smoking and alcohol consumption.
Russia and some former communist countries are found to be fairing not as well and this Leon says is due to the well documented problems associated with hazardous drinking habits, especially among young men.
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