19.
Decreasing Life Expectancy
After much hype of increased life expectancy, we now have several documented episodes of declines in life expectancy. And some of them may be a terrifying warning for the developing world.
In Africa the decline occurred in after AIDS. By 2002, 22 million people had died of the disease. Life expectancy in southern Africa fell by as much as 10 years: in Botswana it dropped from 59 in 1995 to 49 in 2005.
For today’s Chinese, Indians and urban Africans, the decline in life expectancy is alarming. Chronic diseases are afflicting these populations. Life expectancy in these regions is falling as the poor in these countries take to industrial lifestyle and Western diet.
Eastern Europe was hit after the Soviet Union’s collapse. Health services and established social structures fell apart, and stress and depression increased. One result was that alcoholism soared. The average Russian man’s life expectancy had been 64 years. By 2005, it was just 59.
In US, life expectancy of Americans fell for the first time in 15 years, as the nation’s oldest adults died from heart disease, cancer and respiratory ailments, according to a report by the National Center for Health Statistics. The research found that the lifespan of men has decreased 4% since the 1980s and by 19% in women. Their children may be the first generation to not outlive their parents in many decades.
For Australians, they could be eating themselves to an early death, with new research suggesting life expectancy will decline for the first time in 100 years due to the obesity epidemic.
A paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine predicts a decrease in life expectancy, which rose slowly but steadily in last century. Obesity has been shown to reduce the length of life by about five to 20 years. About 68 per cent of Australian men and 52 per cent of Australian women are overweight or obese, which puts them at an elevated risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Australia is tracking just behind the US in obesity trends.
Its the same story with South Africa. International comparisons show that the average South African will not live longer than 50 years, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR).
According to its latest South Africa Survey, the country was part of a group of 37 developed and developing countries that had a decreasing life expectancy between 1990 and 2007. South Africa’s life expectancy decreased from 62 years in 1990 to 50 years in 2007.
In Africa the decline occurred in after AIDS. By 2002, 22 million people had died of the disease. Life expectancy in southern Africa fell by as much as 10 years: in Botswana it dropped from 59 in 1995 to 49 in 2005.
For today’s Chinese, Indians and urban Africans, the decline in life expectancy is alarming. Chronic diseases are afflicting these populations. Life expectancy in these regions is falling as the poor in these countries take to industrial lifestyle and Western diet.
Eastern Europe was hit after the Soviet Union’s collapse. Health services and established social structures fell apart, and stress and depression increased. One result was that alcoholism soared. The average Russian man’s life expectancy had been 64 years. By 2005, it was just 59.
In US, life expectancy of Americans fell for the first time in 15 years, as the nation’s oldest adults died from heart disease, cancer and respiratory ailments, according to a report by the National Center for Health Statistics. The research found that the lifespan of men has decreased 4% since the 1980s and by 19% in women. Their children may be the first generation to not outlive their parents in many decades.
For Australians, they could be eating themselves to an early death, with new research suggesting life expectancy will decline for the first time in 100 years due to the obesity epidemic.
A paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine predicts a decrease in life expectancy, which rose slowly but steadily in last century. Obesity has been shown to reduce the length of life by about five to 20 years. About 68 per cent of Australian men and 52 per cent of Australian women are overweight or obese, which puts them at an elevated risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Australia is tracking just behind the US in obesity trends.
Its the same story with South Africa. International comparisons show that the average South African will not live longer than 50 years, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR).
According to its latest South Africa Survey, the country was part of a group of 37 developed and developing countries that had a decreasing life expectancy between 1990 and 2007. South Africa’s life expectancy decreased from 62 years in 1990 to 50 years in 2007.
“...every new genetically engineered plant is a unique event in nature, bringing its own set of genetic contingencies. This means that the reliability or safety of one genetically modified plant doesn’t necessarily guarantee the reliability or safety of the next.”
~Michael Pollan