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Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday September 19, 2004
The Observer
Bloated, blue-collar Americans - gorged on diets of fries and burgers, but denied their share of US riches - are bringing the nation's steady rise in life expectancy to a grinding halt.
Twenty years ago, the US, the richest nation on the planet, led the world's longevity league. Today, American women rank only 19th, while males can manage only 28th place, alongside men from Brunei.
These startling figures are blamed by researchers on two key factors: obesity, and inequality of health care. A man born in a poor area of Washington can have a life expectancy that is 40 years less than a woman in a prosperous neighbourhood only a few blocks away, for example.
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Their paper is one of a recent swathe of studies that have uncovered a shocking truth: America, once the home of the world's best-fed, longest-lived people, is now a divided nation made up of a rich elite and a large underclass of poor, ill-fed, often obese, men and women who are dying early.
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Devastating! So much for the 'WE'RE NUMBER ONE CRAP'!
We are actually facing a decline in longevity. As a nutritionist I have often wondered if America's political stupidity had something to do with their overall poor diets and lifestyle -- our diets are overly rich in cheap, calories (much of it corn based, hydrogenated fat and sugar with artificial flavorings) , but woefully deficient in real nutrients. Our diets overall do not support good brain growth.
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