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In the US, "We live shorter, poorer lives" according to a Nat'l Academies' report. The report was called a "catalogue of horrors." Newspapers were "stunned" and "surprised." That was 2013. “As bad as things were then, they’ve only gotten worse,” says Dr. Woolf from @VCUHealth
By 2019, U.S. was 36th in the world on life expectancy at birth, behind Slovenia, Costa Rica. Recent paper found that even privileged whites fare worse on infant mortality, maternal mortality+deaths from heart attacks than avg. citizens of Norway, Denmark+other developed nations
"The troubling portrait of America’s health did not spur action to paint a better one. Two presidential administrations have ignored it, as has Congress" states this article by @undarkmag, looking back at the 2013 report https://undark.org/2021/02/01/america-health-trails-other-wealthy-countries/ @XavierBecerra
US are less healthy than the British. “When you find out that every other rich country in the world--without better technology, without more spending on biomedical research--is healthier, it undermines your case that what you are doing is right” said researcher Sir @MichaelMarmot
"Panel members were struck by how consistently the U.S. health disadvantage washed across Americans from all subsets of the population — rich and poor, highly educated and not, old and young" said report author @laudyaron Report is here: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13497/us-health-in-international-perspective-shorter-lives-poorer-health @XavierBecerra
Focusing on health disparities isn't the best way to tackle US health disadvantage, said one demographer. “Yes, we’re violent...yes, we’re racist, but we were those things <1975, and somehow that was not incompatible with being among the healthiest people in the world.”
Amazingly, Americans self-report that they're in good health, acc to Prof. @SBezruchka who found that “The US ranks poorly on all indicators, with the exception of self-reported subjective health status.” i.e., We like to think we're still the greatest country in the world.
This failure of American exceptionalism explains in part why policymakers can't seem to reckon w/ this. "Even rich White Americans are dying at higher rates than their international peers" but it didn't make an impression. “There’s a certain amount of denial among policymakers"
What I've found myself is that policymakers are interested, yet one inevitably runs up against their donors, which are Big Food, Big Ag, Big Pharma, healthcare interests-- which profit from unhealthy foods or the pills/devices/services that treat them.
@undarkmag cites work suggesting that conservative state policies are correlated with declining life expectancy. Yet notes this is a correlation, not causation. What else is correlated with declining life expectancy...?
The US Dietary Guidelines. This is also just a correlation. Hvr, there are >75 clinical trials now showing that if people reverse out of high-carb (>50% of calories as carb) guidelines, their chronic diseases improve, including putting T2 diabetes in remission @XavierBecerra
These diseases are a big part of what causes diminished life expectancy: Some 1.7 million people die annually due to (mostly) diet-related chronic diseases acc. to the CDC https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm
If you think Americans haven't follow the Guidelines, here is some info. to the contrary.
More here: https://www.nutritioncoalition.us/americans-follow-the-guidelines-but-their-health-has-not-improved-1
More here: https://www.nutritioncoalition.us/americans-follow-the-guidelines-but-their-health-has-not-improved-1
If you think the Guidelines aren't important or are "just Guidelines," see this: https://www.nutritioncoalition.us/dietary-guidelines-for-americans-dga-introduction
Nutrition is important. One way US is different from other nations is that we pioneered national Dietary Guidelines. Advised avoiding nutrient-dense, more satiating proteins/fats. Even if u follow the Guidelines, you'll have a nutritionally deficient diet https://www.nutritioncoalition.us/the-guidelines-recommend-diets-that-are-nutritionally-insufficient
Solution is to make US Dietary Guidelines evidence-based, which currently, they are not. Multiple issues with Guidelines covered here. https://www.nutritioncoalition.us/news/2020-2025-dietary-guidelines-not-applicable-for-majority-of-americans-not-scoped-fo2020-2025-dietary-guidelines-not-applicable-for-majority-of-americans
Nat'l Academies wrote a report citing multiple problems w/ Guidelines' lack of transparency, lack of a rigorous methodology. @XavierBecerra https://www.nutritioncoalition.us/2020-dietary-guidelines-info/process-needs-reform
One thing seems clear: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them" -Einstein
One thing seems clear: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them" -Einstein
