A new study at the Harvard School of public health states: "Although we share in the U.S. a reasonably common culture...there's still a lot of variation in how people live their lives." The study analyzed mortality data between 1982-2001, and came up with distinct groupings that they named the eight Americas:
_Asian-Americans, average per capita income of $21,566, have a life expectancy of 84.9 years.
_Northland low-income rural whites, $17,758, 79 years.
_Middle America (mostly white), $24,640, 77.9 years.
_Low income whites in Appalachia, Mississippi Valley, $16,390, 75 years.
_Western American Indians, $10,029, 72.7 years.
_Black Middle America, $15,412, 72.9 years.
_Southern low-income rural blacks, $10,463, 71.2 years.
_High-risk urban blacks, $14,800, 71.1 years.
The longest-living sub-group was Asian American women living in Bergen County with Asians in general exceeding the life expectancy of the next long-livin' group (rural whites) by almost 6 years.
Who know what this is related to, but I DO know that year I spent living in Korea (Seoul is pretty polluted, however) did change my views on healthcare pretty fundamentally. Koreans still incorporate the Eastern medicine ideas of staying healthy and strengthening the immune system through tonics, food, walking in the mountain air, and spring water instead of always focusing on drugs and surgery as a "cure." The concept of balance was always a big one, as I had everyone from my Fulbright faculty advisor to random people on the street telling me, "You look too yang, you should be eating more ___."
Plus, like many Asian women, my mom never had any menopause symptoms--hot flashes and things like that are also considered signals of "imbalance." She's not a huge Eastern medicine type, but she does eat a fairly Asian-y (e.g., fermented soy) diet. Who knows?
http://www.globalhealth.harvard.edu
FertilityBitch's Eastern moneysaving tip of the day: you can buy shitake mushroom cheeeeeeep at a Korean grocery. Just go in and ask for p'yogo mushrooms. Dr. Andrew Weil thinks these mushrooms have immune modulating, anti-viral and cholesterol-reducing properties. Certain extracts of shiitake mushrooms are used in Japan as adjunctive therapy to strengthen immunity of cancer patients during chemotherapy and radiation. To be filed under: He calls it medicine, I call it delicious in kimbap.
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