Life Expectancy
26 03 2008I am intrigued to discover that on the latest CIA Life Expectancy (LE) tables the USA is ranked 45th (or 29th on the UN country list of LE). Here in the USA, the high tech medical country, yet we only rank 45th. I have to ask myself why only 45th if we are so advanced in our state of the art of medicine? The only answer I can come up with is that nutrition must be a key factor in LE. Nutrition is an area were the USA falls down, junk food, prepared foods, and rich desserts are the eating habits of today. With our fast food diets our medical industry is left to combat our ill eating habits. Obesity and diabetes are becoming bigger daily. The health industry can only do so much and at some point we the individual have to take charge of our own eating habits and nutritional intake.
Perhaps we should look at the leaders Andorra, Macau, Japan, San Marino, Singapore and Hong Kong (4 of the 6 from Asia with 3 from S.E. Asia). What do they eat? We should start looking at their eating habits and model our own habits after them.
If we look further at the table you will see that at the bottom of the list are African countries that have LEs of only 40+ years. Can you imagine an LE of 40? This is no better than it was in the USA back in the 19th century. Why is it that in this prosperous world we can’t improve the LE in Africa? Why can’t we teach them and give them technology to improve their food delivery?
Food safety is an issue that can help to improve our lives and particularly in the African countries. However food safety cannot counter the effects of junk food. It is time for us as a nation to raise the bar and become aware of our health habits and eat proper nutritional foods. Let’s reach for a new level of excellence.
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