Not exactly a surprise is it:
Poverty worse for health than alcoholism – study
A new study published in The Lancet has found people who are poor are likely to die sooner than alcoholics or those who are obese.
The European study of 1.7 million people over the age of 40 was the first to compare low socio-economic status with other major risk factors in health.
Predictably, smoking and diabetes are the worst offenders – reducing life expectancy by 4.8 and 3.9 years respectively. Being poor shortened life expectancy by 2.1 years.
But what’s interesting is the study found being poor is worse for you than obesity and high alcohol consumption.
…
The study’s lead author says governments should accept socioeconomic status as a major risk factor and stop excluding it from health policy.Researchers say reducing poverty and improving education will help keep more poor people from an early grave.
Bill English wants the election to be about the economy. Asked to sum it up in one word he picked “growth”. (I/S at NRT observes that the fastest growth we’re seeing is in foodbank demand).
I will give my vote to those who want the election to be about people. I can’t get it down to one word, but I’ll go with two, “eliminate poverty”.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress