Ruth Alexander
speaker
4,250 appearances
120 recordings
1 series
first heard Jan 2011
last heard Aug 2018
Ruth Alexander’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
So this does sound plausible, but...
It's not true.
If obesity really was having such a stark impact, then we'd expect to see death rates from heart attacks and strokes rising because they're common illnesses associated with obesity.
But in fact, the death rates from such conditions are falling sharply.
Here's Sir Richard Peto, Professor of Medical Statistics at Oxford University.
The trend is the same.
Mexico is now the fattest country in the world and even there people are less likely to die earlier.
Yes, that's right.
unlikely.
Fat or not, around the world, the probability of dying before you're 50 is actually half what it was 40 years ago.
There isn't really one explanation.
Better vaccination programmes and drugs, cleaner water, better infection control, trained midwives, all of these are contributing factors.
And according to Richard Peto, in Britain, one thing has made a huge difference.
Yes, but that doesn't mean we will live healthier, longer lives than the generation before us.
If you're obese, you run the risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, among other things, which diminishes quality of life.
So although you might get a few more years because of better healthcare, they won't necessarily be golden ones.
So stay away from the pies, Tim, you greedy oink.
Thank you for downloading More or Less from BBC Radio 4.
Here's Tim Harford.
Hi, Tim.
Showing 1301–1320 of 4,250 · page 66 of 213
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