English Middle Aged White people are heathier than Americans!

It was interesting and very surprising to hear that a recent study has shown that White middle-aged Americans (I might resemble one of those) are significantly less healthy than their English counterparts. That is less healthy as measured by the incidence of diabetes, lung cancer, high blood pressure, etc – the serious stuff. And it wasn’t by a small amount either, for example diabetes was twice as prevalent in the US population.

I think most people would expect that the health of middle-aged White people would be similar in England and America. In fact I would have said that with America having twice the per capita spending on healthcare compared to England then Americans should be healthier. Not to mention the effects of the English diet (Fish and Chips and fried everything) and the large quantities of beer being consumed over there.

So how can this be? The researchers were baffled too. Could it be the early exposure to junk food (the English didn’t get into that until much later) so obesity has been an issue in America for a longer time and all those chubby kids are now hitting their 50s and 60s.

One factor that might be an issue is the stress level of American life. Americans do tend to work harder and longer than the average European and in general have a much more stressful environment.

Its all very baffling to me – maybe it’s just over here on the West Coast where we are relaxed and laid back and where we eat healthy. Perhaps the remainder of the US are the unhealthy ones.

The study did mention that expatriate Brits living in America (that would be me) would tend to assume the health conditions of their adopted nation if they were in the US for any considerable time (the damage is done in my case). However, they recommended rather than escaping to the UK to increase the odds of a healthier (and longer) life, the damage is done and at least in the US they are likely to spend more money keeping you alive through your middle-age and beyond.