Public health officials are deeply concerned about America's health crisis. The epidemic of obesity will soon take over smoking as the leading cause of death. Not only does the way most of America lives contribute to death, it also results in significant loss of productivity due to the morbidity associated with being overweight. Being overweight and obese contributes to a multitude of health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and back and joint pain. This trend has been attributed to a Western diet and lifestyle, but new research shows that when compared to people living in England, American's are not faring as well.
An article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association examined health status clinically and using objective lab measurements of Americans and British adults aged 55-64 years. To ensure that health differences were not solely due to health issues in the black or Latino populations in the United States, the analysis was limited to non-Hispanic whites in both countries.
The study found that both countries had higher levels of self-reported health problems in subjects with the lowest levels of education and income. However, the US population surveyed was less healthy than the equivalent British population for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, lung disease, and cancer. Even after controlling for a standard set of behavioral risk factors, including smoking, overweight, obesity, and alcohol drinking, very little of the health differences were explained. They reported that "diabetes prevalence is twice as high in the United States and only one fifth of this difference can be explained by a common set of risk factors". Also laboratory markers like cholesterol and C-reactive protein revealed poorer health status for Americans.
Differences in eating habits, such as processed foods and nutritionally depleted food products were not included in the study, nor were activity levels.
Posted by Dr. Jennifer Stagg on August 30, 2006 11:46 AM
