Why Americans Aren't Living Longer

From CNN Health.

"With plenty of food, more money spent on health care and modern medical innovations, it seems as if we should be living longer.

But compared to our international counterparts, we aren't. Americans lag behind other industrialized countries including Australia, Canada, Japan and France, in life expectancy.

A new report from the National Research Council finds that Americans fall short on life expectancy compared with other high-income countries because of two vices – smoking and obesity.

Smoking was very popular in the United States three to five decades ago and the effects are being seen now. There appears to be a lag of two to three decades between smoking and its peak effects on health.

Because the popularity of smoking waned dramatically, the life expectancy for U.S. males is likely to improve in the coming decades, the report says. The changes in women is expected to be slower, because their smoking behavior peaked later than men’s.

Lung cancer deaths are a reliable marker of the effects of smoking, but no such clear markers exist for obesity and physical inactivity, according the report.

And obesity in America is not waning. It could account for a fifth to a third of the shortfall in longevity in the United States compared to other nations, the report says.

Here's how Americans compare in life expectancy:

Women
Australia 83.78
Canada 82.95
Denmark 80.53
England and Wales 81.73
France 84.39
Italy 84.09
Japan 85.98
Netherlands 81.89
Sweden 82.95
United States 80.78

Men
Australia 79.27
Canada 78.35
Denmark 76.13
England and Wales 77.46
France 63. 77.43
Italy 78.62
Japan 79.20
Netherlands 77.63
Sweden 78.92
United States 75.64"

What about the silent epidemic of deaths caused by SUGAR--heart disease, diabetes, kidney/liver ailments, etc.?

Might I suggest we take a closer look at the nutritional training doctors receive...or rather, DON'T receive? Markers exist for telling us if a person is a "muscle" burner, a "sugar" burner, or both, and that should tell us how to ration carbs effectively. Also, put a damper on any more convenience-led technologies, because the less active we are, the fewer carbs get burned as energy output.

Teach the carb math to doctors, and to patients, as well as students, so they can go forward with this information into food source outlets: grocery stores, health food stores, other food-selling places, and web-based food outlets (like Amazon, who is slated to begin web grocery delivery).

Taming sugar--especially the hidden starches and carbs NOT in the ingredient list--will go a long way toward prevention of diseases with sugar as their root cause. Imagine a world where nobody had to die from diabetes or heart disease ever again!