# Americans Under 50 die earlier and live in poorer health than their counterparts in other developed

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-under-50-die-earlier-and-live-in-poorer-health-than-their-counterparts-in-other-developed/646898>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [January 11, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-under-50-die-earlier-and-live-in-poorer-health-than-their-counterparts-in-other-developed/646898 "2013-01-11T20:23:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-under-50-die-earlier-and-live-in-poorer-health-than-their-counterparts-in-other-developed/646898/21 "2013-01-13T18:58:25Z")

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[Interesting article about epigenetics that may or may not be related to nationality differences in longevity:](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1952313,00.html)

> [@](#):
>
> For instance, Bygren’s research showed that in Overkalix, boys who enjoyed those rare overabundant winters — kids who went from normal eating to gluttony in a single season — produced sons and grandsons who lived shorter lives. Far shorter: in the first paper Bygren wrote about Norrbotten, which was published in 2001 in the Dutch journal Acta Biotheoretica, he showed that the grandsons of Overkalix boys who had overeaten died an average of six years earlier than the grandsons of those who had endured a poor harvest. Once Bygren and his team controlled for certain socioeconomic variations, the difference in longevity jumped to an astonishing 32 years. Later papers using different Norrbotten cohorts also found significant drops in life span and discovered that they applied along the female line as well, meaning that the daughters and granddaughters of girls who had gone from normal to gluttonous diets also lived shorter lives. To put it simply, the data suggested that a single winter of overeating as a youngster could initiate a biological chain of events that would lead one’s grandchildren to die decades earlier than their peers did. How could this be possible?

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-under-50-die-earlier-and-live-in-poorer-health-than-their-counterparts-in-other-developed/646898/22 "2013-01-13T19:16:11Z")

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The US is a very large country. Break this stuff down by states, and I can guarantee there will be plenty of states that score pretty much as well as European Countries do.

We see this in life expectancy. The US ranks 38th but several states would easily be in the top 10 European/Western countries (from wikipedia):

> [@](#):
>
> ```auto
> 
> Rank	State	Life Expectancy(in years)
> 1	Hawaii 81.5
> 2	Minnesota 80.9
> 3	California 80.4
> 4	New York 80.4
> 5	Connecticut	80.2
> 6	Massachusetts	80.1
> 7	North Dakota	80.1
> 8	Utah 80.1
> 9	Colorado 79.9
> 10	Arizona 79.9
> 
> ```

Top Ten Countries:

> [@](#):
>
> ```auto
> 
> Life expectancy at birth (years)
> Rank	state/territory	Overall
> 1 Italy 82.0
> 2 Iceland	81.8
> 3 Australia	81.2
> 4 Spain 80.9
> 4 Sweden 80.9
> 6 Canada 80.7
> 6 France (metropol.)	80.7
> 8 New Zealand	80.2
> 8 Norway 80.2
> 10 United Kingdom	80.1
> 11 Austria	79.8
> 11 Netherlands	79.8
> 13 Portugal	79.5
> 
> ```

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-under-50-die-earlier-and-live-in-poorer-health-than-their-counterparts-in-other-developed/646898/23 "2013-01-14T00:20:09Z")

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> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> The US is a very large country. Break this stuff down by states, and I can guarantee there will be plenty of states that score pretty much as well as European Countries do.
> 
> We see this in life expectancy. The US ranks 38th but several states would easily be in the top 10 European/Western countries (from wikipedia):
> 
> Top Ten Countries:

Hawaii’s no mystery. It’s arguably the most perfect climate in the world, and the state government rightfully prides itself on its health programs. When I lived there, I naturally felt healthier, because you’re always out and doing stuff. People there just don’t stay indoors and vegetate, not like in many other states.

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