Comment by lovethevoid
20 hours ago
> The decline in the United States is driven by increasing numbers of deaths because of conditions such as diabetes and heart disease in people aged roughly 40 to 60.
People are asking if we should be surprised by the headline but are missing this. As suggested in the article by the researchers, there is something dragging down the average since the 2010s. Not even hitting the general expectation of ~75 years. We don’t have solid answers yet, only theories.
So yes, generally while going up against the process of aging is going to create barriers (eg can we get to 130 years old), we are also failing to raise the baseline which is the bigger issue that people might not grasp when it comes to “life expectancy rates”.
> We don’t have solid answers yet, only theories.
The exact quote you gave had a pretty solid answer, certainly not just "theories".
That's not what I meant. A solid answer as to why those conditions are happening, not the fact that they are happening at all.
We have research on what can affect heart health, like what things might be linked to it, such as smoking and alcohol. We also know genetics plays a huge role.
So we don't actually have solid answers, actionable answers as to the rise of heart health issues. Look at this analysis[1] regarding how dietary guidelines specifically for fats (saturated, trans) have very little substantial evidence supporting it. Yet this gets repeated by the average person, that fats are the ultimate evil you must avoid. In another study[2] we find that reducing your fat intake still resulted in the same rates of mortality as those who ate more. This is also why more in the space are shifting away from these sort of claims ("only eat x amount of saturated fat per day") and more to general food composition (eg who cares if a fish has saturated fats, eat the fish with vegetables).
It's quite challenging to figure out, everyone has their theories. All I'm saying is we don't actually have the answers yet.
[1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9794145/ [2]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8092457/
> Yet this gets repeated by the average person, that fats are the ultimate evil you must avoid.
I've been hearing this complaint (that the guidelines claim fat are the worst) for way too long, when in (my) reality, all the guidelines I've seen in the last 25 years has put more emphasis on carbs than on fats (i.e. too many carbs is evil).
I know "low fat" diets were the craze a long time ago. And sure, advertisers still like to slap "low/no fat" labels. But I believe the actual recommendation has been to lower carbs since around the 90's.
This is ultimately a strawman.
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Perhaps there are many causes of heart disease and diabetes. It is likely that actionable information would require a case-by-case assessment. That is exactly what doctors do, so getting people time with doctors seems pretty useful.
Regarding other factors, American culture is fairly similar to Canadian culture. However Canadians have free healthcare, meaning more Canadians see doctors than Americans. So I wonder if they have lower levels of obesity, heart disease and diabetes, and if their lifespans have also been decreasing.
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I recommend studies about stain medication in increasing life expectancy.
We're talking years of increased life expectancy.
Sadly statin is not without its downsides.
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> That's not what I meant. A solid answer as to why those conditions are happening, not the fact that they are happening at all.
Nestle ? McDonalds ? Burger King ?
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I think the distinction there is between immediate cause and root cause. Heart disease and diabetes (or complications thereof) is the immediate cause of death, but what is causing an increase in those diseases is theory at this point.
Is it not clearly obesity? Why everyone is obese is perhaps unclear (although portion sizes, ultra processed foods, screen time and sedentary lives, etc, all seem to likely play a clear role), but I’d be surprised if the level of obesity that exists didn’t cause more heart disease and diabetes.
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Wow so ozempic is going to cause expectancy to jump by 10 years over the next decade or so.
What has been the role in demographic shifts?
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Epicureans. No point to live long which means being old for a long period of time. Better to be happy when you are young.
Eating yourself to a point where it hurts your knees to walk, or you get winded going up a flight of stairs, is not the kind of hedonism Epicurus had in mind.
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