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Almost the entire adult population of Scotland (97.5%) are likely to
be either cigarette smokers, heavy drinkers, physically inactive,
overweight or have a poor diet. Researchers writing in the open
access journal BMC Public Health also found a strong association
between the presence of several of these risk factors and low
income.
I'm thinking we need some sort of international contest in unhealthy
living. Cities could compete for worst lifestyles from the
standpoint of best health practices. Who smokes the most? Who drinks
the most alcohol? Which people eat the least in vegetables and
fruits and the most junk food?
Most Scottish people have poor diets. Two thirds are overweight or
obese.
David Conway, from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, worked with
a team of researchers to study data from 6574 participants in the
Scottish Health Survey 2003. He said, "Our analysis shows that
around two-thirds of the Scottish population is overweight or obese,
a similar proportion are not sufficiently physically active, and
most people have a poor diet – it is just that it is not the same
majority for each factor. The most important determinants of
multiple risk factors were low educational attainment and residence
in our most deprived communities".
The least educated have the worst diets. Not surprising. People with
low intelligence aren't smart enough to remember and understand what
foods they ought to eat or avoid. Higher intelligence has been found
to be positively correlated with life expectancy in all Scottish
people born in 1921. Also see Batty, G. D., Deary, I. J., &
Gottfredson, L. S. (2007). Pre-morbid (early life) IQ and later
mortality risk: Systematic review. Annals of Epidemiology.
55% of the Scots have 3 or more of the 5 risk factors.
The prevalence of multiple behavioural risk factors was high, with
86% having at least two risk factors; 55% having three or more risk
factors; and nearly 20% having four or all five risk factors.
Furthermore these risk factors are strongly associated with low
socio-economic circumstances. The researchers caution that, as the
behaviours were self-reported, the real situation may be even worse
than these figures suggest. According to Conway, "Respondents might
tend to give answers that would convey more favourable behaviours.
This was confirmed for alcohol consumption by an analysis comparing
self-reported alcohol intake in the Scottish Health Surveys with
alcohol sales estimates, which suggested that surveys may understate
alcohol consumption by as much as 50%".
The use of heavy equipment and automation to do what were previously
jobs performed with lots of human muscle. The success of
industrialized countries probably widens the gap between best and
worst health practices in a society. The increased availability of
highly refined and processed foods poses a bigger health threat to
poorer people who aren't smart enough to know to avoid junk foods.
We did not evolve for industrial civilization and it is not
surprising to me that so many people make bad decisions about what
to eat or how to live as the choices they face become increasingly
unlike what our distant ancestors had.
By Randall Parker at 2010 June 10 10:26 PM Aging Lifestyle Studies
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