What Country Tops the List of Healthiest Countries?
December 27, 2012
Story at-a-glance
Japan ranked highest in the world for both female and male life
expectancy
The United States spends $2.7 trillion annually -- TWICE the
amount per person as most other industrialized nations – on
health care, yet was ranked only 29th for male life expectancy
and 33rd for female
While health risks like infectious diseases and malnutrition are
causing fewer deaths than they have in decades, other more
insidious causes of death, like chronic disease, have taken
their place in many countries, including the United States
Dietary factors, such as eating larger amounts of animal-based
omega-3 fats and fermented foods like natto, may play a role in
the Japanese’s generally good health
The more healthy habits you embrace, the higher your chances of
aging "successfully" becomes … and the longer your lifespan is
likely to be
By Dr. Mercola
The United States spends $2.7 trillion annually -- TWICE the
amount per person as most other industrialized nations – on
health care. With this level of spending, you might think
Americans would be among the healthiest people on the planet …
unfortunately, that isn't the case.
Japan Tops List of Healthiest Countries
The Global Burden of Disease study, which assessed health and
disease trends in 187 countries and is said to be the “largest
ever systematic effort to describe the global distribution and
causes of a wide array of major diseases, injuries, and health
risk factors,”1
released its rankings of the top 10 countries with the highest
life expectancies. The United States did not make the cut – not
even close.
For male life expectancy, the U.S. was ranked 29th, while for
female life expectancy the rank was even lower, at 33rd. Japan
ranked highest for both, followed by:2
Highest Male Healthy Life Expectancy
Highest Female Life Expectancy
1. Japan
1. Japan
2. Singapore
2. South Korea
3. Switzerland
3. Spain
4. Spain
4. Singapore
5. Italy
5. Taiwan
6. Australia
6. Switzerland
7. Canada
7. Andorra
8. Andorra
8. Italy
9. Israel
9. Australia
10. South Korea
10. France
What’s Japan’s Secret?
As for why the Japanese are the longest-lived race
on the planet (they were also ranked healthiest back in 1990),
the researchers couldn’t say exactly, although Harvard School of
Public Health Professor Joshua Salomon, one of the study’s lead
investigators, noted:3
“It’s likely a combination of factors, a combination
of genetics and of healthy behaviors, including diet.”
Indeed, at least one “secret” is likely that their diets are
naturally high in animal-based omega-3 fats, a nutrient many
Americans are deficient in. According to
Dr. William Harris, an expert on omega-3 fats, those who
have an omega-3 index of less than 4 percent age much faster
than those with indexes above 8 percent. Therefore, your
omega-3 index may also be an effective marker of your rate
of aging.
In general, the Japanese also enjoy
fermented foods like natto, which contains beneficial
microbes that help balance your intestinal flora, and is also
very high in vitamin K2, thereby boosting overall immunity, far
more often than the average American … this too could be playing
a role in their good health.
While health risks like infectious diseases and malnutrition
are causing fewer deaths across the board than they have in
decades, other more insidious causes of death, like chronic
disease, have taken their place in many countries, including the
United States where heart disease and cancer make up the two
leading causes of death. Meanwhile, as a global population we
are getting sicker not healthier, as although life
expectancy has mostly risen, more of those years are being spent
in poor health or disability.
“The results show that infectious diseases, maternal
and child illness, and malnutrition now cause fewer deaths
and less illness than they did twenty years ago. As a
result, fewer children are dying every year, but more young
and middle-aged adults are dying and suffering from disease
and injury, as non-communicable diseases, such as cancer and
heart disease, become the dominant causes of death and
disability worldwide.
Since 1970, men and women worldwide have gained
slightly more than ten years of life expectancy overall, but
they spend more years living with injury and illness.”
Why Isn’t Life Expectancy Higher in the United States?
Using life expectancy as a barometer for the return of our
health care investment shows us that this expenditure is
entirely in vain. Other countries that spend far less are
outpacing us in life expectancy by leaps and bounds. What’s the
problem? Well for starters, the U.S. health care system has a
tremendous amount of waste. A recent review of U.S. healthcare
expenses by the Institute of Medicine5
revealed that 30 cents of every dollar spent on medical care is
wasted, adding up to $750 billion annually. Six major
areas of waste identified in the report were:
Unnecessary services: $210 billion
Inflated prices: $105 billion
Inefficient delivery of care: $130 billion
Improper payments: $70 billion
Excess administrative costs: $190 billion
Fraud: $75 billion
Meanwhile, statistics also tell us that the U.S. health care
system itself may be one of the greatest health threats facing
us today. Over a decade ago, Professor Bruce Pomerance of the
University of Toronto concluded that properly prescribed and
correctly taken pharmaceutical drugs were the fourth leading
cause of death in the U.S.
More recently, an
article authored in two parts by Gary Null, PhD, Carolyn
Dean, MD, ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Debora Rasio, MD, and Dorothy
Smith, PhD, describes in excruciating detail how the modern
American conventional medical system has bumbled its way into
becoming the leading cause of death and injury in the
United States.
From medical errors to adverse drug reactions to unnecessary
procedures, heart disease, cancer deaths and infant mortality,
the authors took statistics straight from the most respected
medical and scientific journals and investigative reports by the
Institutes of Medicine (IOM), and showed that on the whole,
American medicine caused more harm than good. In 2010, years
after the original article was written, an analysis in the
New England Journal of Medicine6
found that, despite efforts to improve patient safety in the
past few years, the health care system hasn't changed much at
all.
Instead,
18 percent of patients were harmed by medical care (some
repeatedly) and over 63 percent of the injuries could have been
prevented. In nearly 2.5 percent of these cases, the problems
caused or contributed to a person's death. In another 3 percent,
patients suffered from permanent injury, while over 8 percent
experienced life-threatening issues, such as severe bleeding
during surgery.
In all there were over 25 injuries per 100 admissions!
Of course, there are other factors involved in Americans’
poor life-expectancy rankings, too, not the least of which is
the
standard American diet, which indirectly contributes to an
untold number of deaths every year from obesity and chronic
disease. The good news is that, no matter what country you live
in, most chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease,
diabetes, and obesity, are largely preventable with simple
lifestyle changes. Even infectious diseases like the flu can
often be warded off by a healthy way of life.
Do You Want to Give Your Life Expectancy a Boost?
The more healthy habits you embrace, the higher your chances
of aging "successfully" becomes … and the longer your lifespan
is likely to be. Imagine the lowered death toll, not to mention
costs to the economy, if more people decided to take control of
their health … heart disease and cancer alone accounted for
47 percent of deaths in the United States in 2010, and
there are many strategies you can implement to lower your risk
of these diseases … and most of the leading causes of death in
the United States.
The added bonus to this is that the healthier you are, the
less you will need to rely on conventional medical care, which
is a leading cause of death if you live in the United
States. So what does a "healthy lifestyle" entail?
Proper Food Choices
For a comprehensive guide on which foods to eat and which
to avoid, see my
nutrition plan. Generally speaking, you should be
looking to focus your diet on whole, unprocessed foods
(vegetables, meats, raw dairy, nuts, and so forth) that come
from healthy, sustainable, local sources, such as a small
organic farm not far from your home.
Nearly as important as knowing which foods to eat more of
is knowing which foods to avoid, and topping the list is
fructose.
Sugar, and
fructose in particular, acts as a toxin in and of
itself, and as such drive multiple disease processes in your
body, not the least of which is insulin resistance, a major
cause of accelerated aging.
Comprehensive Exercise Program, including
High-Intensity Exercise like Peak Fitness
Even if you're eating the healthiest diet in the world,
you still need to exercise to reach the highest levels of
health, and you need to be exercising effectively, which
means including not only core-strengthening exercises,
strength training, and stretching but also high-intensity
activities into your rotation.
High-intensity interval-type training boosts human growth
hormone (HGH) production, which is essential for optimal
health, strength and vigor. I've discussed the importance of
Peak Fitness for your health on numerous occasions, so for
more information please review this previous
article.
Stress Reduction and Positive Thinking
You cannot be optimally healthy if you avoid addressing
the emotional component of your health and longevity, as
your emotional state plays an intimate role in nearly every
physical disease -- from heart disease and depression, to
arthritis and cancer. Effective coping mechanisms are a
major longevity-promoting factor in part because stress has
a direct impact on inflammation, which in turn underlies
many of the chronic diseases that kill people prematurely
every day. Meditation, prayer, energy psychology tools such
as the
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), social support and
exercise are all viable options that can help you maintain
emotional and mental equilibrium.
Proper Sun Exposure to Optimize Vitamin D
We have long known that it is best to get your
vitamin D from sun exposure, and if at all possible, I
strongly urge you to make sure you're getting out in the sun
on a daily basis. Vitamin D plays an important role in
preventing numerous illnesses ranging from
cancer to the
flu.
The important factor when it comes to vitamin D is your
serum level, which should ideally be between 50-70 ng/ml
year-round. Sun exposure or a safe tanning bed is the
preferred method for optimizing vitamin D levels, but a
vitamin D3 supplement can be used as a last resort. Most
adults need about 8,000 IU's of vitamin D a day to achieve
serum levels above 40 ng/ml, which is still just below the
minimum recommended serum level of 50 ng/ml.
High Quality Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats
Animal-based omega-3 fat like krill oil is a strong
factor in helping people live longer, and some experts
believe that it is likely the predominant reason why the
Japanese are the healthiest people on the planet.
Avoid as Many Chemicals, Toxins, and Pollutants
as Possible
This includes tossing out your
toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene
products, air fresheners, bug sprays, lawn pesticides, and
insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with
non-toxic alternatives.