Mrs Bonk wrote:
> RichAsianKid wrote:
>
> > Here is another practical reason. We now know how beneficial omega-3
> > acids are to health. These are found in cold-water fish amongst other
> > food items. Fish - sushi, sashimi - is one of the main staples of
> > Japanese diet. And the Japanese have one of the world's longest life
> > expectancy at ~81 years, last time I checked.
>
> The Japanese also have the highest rate of stomach cancer in the world and
> they now have mass screening for it. They must be doing something wrong!
> Could it be their diet?

And Japan is the Healthiest Country in the World. China on the other
hand is ranked very low. US doesn't rank that high either, but higher
than China.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/774434.stm

Japan 'the most healthy country'
Japanese children can look forward to a long and healthy life

People who live in Japan can expect to remain in good health longer
than anybody else in the world, according to the World Health
Organisation (WHO).

WHO scientists have developed a new way of calculating the number of
years that a person can be expected to live in full health.

It is known as the DALE (Disability-Adjusted Life Years) system, and
gives a truer picture of the health of a country than simply studying
death rates.

Top ten countries
Japan - 74.5 years
Australia - 73.2
France - 73.1
Sweden - 73.0
Italy - 72.7
Spain - 72.8
Greece - 72.5
Switzerland - 72.5
Monaco - 72.4
Andorra - 72.3

Using the system to rank the world's 191 countries has uncovered some
surprise findings.

In Japan the average healthy life expectancy is 74.5 years.

Australia is second and France third on the list, but the US ranks only
number 24.

The UK is 14th, with an average of 71.7 years. For UK women the average
is 73.7 years, for men it is 69.7 years

Sierra Leone comes last with an average life expectancy at birth of
only 25.9 years.

There is a notable gender gap in many countries. For instance, in
Russia women can expect 66.4 years of full health, compared to just
56.1 years for men.

The WHO estimates almost 56 million people died in 1999, 10.5 million
of whom were children less than 5 years of age.

Previously, life expectancy estimates were based on the overall length
of life based on data about death rates.

Bottom ten countries
Sierra Leona - 25.9 years
Niger - 29.1
Malawi - 29.4
Zambia - 30.3
Botswana - 32.3
Uganda - 32.7
Rwanda - 32.8
Zimbabwe - 32.9
Mali - 33.1
Ethiopia - 33.5

To calculate DALE, the years of ill-health are weighted according to
severity and subtracted from the expected overall life expectancy to
give the equivalent years of healthy life.

The WHO rankings show that years lost to disability are substantially
higher in poorer countries because some limitations - blindness,
paralysis and the debilitating effects of several tropical diseases
such as malaria - strike children and young adults.

People in the healthiest regions lose 9% of their lives to disability,
compared to 14% in the worst-off countries.

DALE is estimated to equal or exceed 70 years in 24 countries.

At the other extreme are 32 countries where disability-adjusted life
expectancy is estimated to be less than 40 years.

Many of these are countries with major epidemics of HIV/AIDS, among
other causes.

Dr Christopher Murray, director of WHO's Global Programme on Evidence
for Health Policy, said: "The position of the United States is one of
the major surprises of the new rating system.

"Basically, you die earlier and spend more time disabled if you're an
American rather than a member of most other advanced countries."

The reasons why the US rates so low may be partly due to the very poor
standard of health among some ethnic minorities and people who live in
the inner cities.

Rates of coronary heart disease are also high.

All of the bottom 10 countries were in sub-Saharan Africa, where the
HIV-AIDS epidemic is rampant.

Alan Lopex, co-ordinator of the WHO Epidemiology and Burden of Disease
team, said: "Healthy life expectancy in some African countries is
dropping back to levels we haven't seen in advanced countries since
Medieval times."

Full List of Countries
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/778385.stm

Country Overall Male Female
Japan 74.5 71.9 77.2
Australia 73.2 70.8 75.5
France 73.1 69.3 76.9
Sweden 73.0 71.2 74.9
Spain 72.8 69.8 75.7
Italy 72.7 70.0 75.4
Greece 72.5 70.5 74.6
Switzerland 72.5 69.5 75.5
Monaco 72.4 68.5 76.3
Andorra 72.3 69.3 75.2
San Marino 72.3 69.5 75.0
Canada 72.0 70.0 74.0
Netherlands 72.0 69.6 74.4
United Kingdom 71.7 69.7 73.7
Norway 71.7 68.8 74.6
Belgium 71.6 68.7 74.6
Austria 71.6 68.8 74.4
Luxembourg 71.1 68.0 74.2
Iceland 70.8 69.2 72.3
Finland 70.5 67.2 73.7
Malta 70.5 68.4 72.5
Germany 70.4 67.4 73.5
Israel 70.4 69.2 71.6
United States of America 70.0 67.5 72.6
Cyprus 69.8 68.7 70.9
Dominica 69.8 67.2 72.3
Ireland 69.6 67.5 71.7
Denmark 69.4 67.2 71.5
Portugal 69.3 65.9 72.7
Singapore 69.3 67.4 71.2
NewZealand 69.2 67.1 71.2
Chile 68.6 66.0 71.3
Cuba 68.4 67.4 69.4
Slovenia 68.4 64.9 71.9
Czech Republic 68.0 65.2 70.8
Jamaica 67.3 66.8 67.9
Uruguay 67.0 64.1 69.9
Croatia 67.0 63.3 70.6
Argentina 66.7 63.8 69.6
Costa Rica 66.7 65.2 68.1
Armenia 66.7 65.0 68.3
Slovakia 66.6 63.5 69.7
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 66.4 65.0 67.8
Georgia 66.3 63.1 69.4
Poland 66.2 62.3 70.1
Yugoslavia 66.1 64.2 68.1
Panama 66.0 64.9 67.2
Antigua and Barbuda 65.8 63.4 68.3
Grenada 65.5 62.4 68.5
United Arab Emirates 65.4 65.0 65.8
Republic of Korea 65.0 62.3 67.7
Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of 65.0 62.9 67.1
Barbados 65.0 62.4 67.6
Saint Lucia 65.0 62.4 67.6
Mexico 65.0 62.4 67.6
Bosnia and Herzegovina 64.9 63.4 66.4
Trinidad and Tobago 64.6 62.8 66.4
Saudi Arabia 64.5 65.1 64.0
Brunei Darussalam 64.4 63.4 65.4
Bulgaria 64.4 61.2 67.7
Bahrain 64.4 63.9 64.9
Hungary 64.1 60.4 67.9
Lithuania 64.1 60.6 67.5
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 63.7 61.8 65.6
Azerbaijan 63.7 60.6 66.7
Qatar 63.5 64.2 62.8
Cook Islands 63.4 62.2 64.5
Kuwait 63.2 63.0 63.4
Estonia 63.1 58.1 68.1
Ukraine 63.0 58.5 67.5
Paraguay 63.0 60.7 65.3
Oman 63.0 61.8 64.1
Turkey 62.9 64.0 61.8
Colombia 62.9 60.3 65.5
Tonga 62.9 61.4 64.3
Sri Lanka 62.8 59.3 66.3
Suriname 62.7 60.2 65.2
Mauritius 62.7 59.0 66.3
Dominican Republic 62.5 62.1 62.9
Romania 62.3 58.8 65.8
China 62.3 61.2 63.3
Latvia 62.2 57.1 67.2
Belarus 61.7 67.2
Algeria 61.6 62.5 60.7
Niue 61.6 61.0 62.2
Saint Kitts and Nevis 61.6 58.7 64.4
El Salvador 61.5 58.6 64.5
Republic of Moldova 61.5 58.5 64.5
Malaysia 61.4 61.3 61.6
Tunisia 61.4 62.0 60.7
Russian Federation 61.3 56.1 66.4
Honduras 61.1 60.0 62.3
Ecuador 61.0 59.9 62.1
Belize 60.9 58.5 63.3
Lebanon 60.6 61.2 60.1
Iran, Islamic Republic of 60.5 61.3 59.8
Samoa 60.5 58.7 62.3
Guyana 60.2 57.1 63.3
Thailand 60.2 58.4 62.1
Uzbekistan 60.2 58.0 62.3
Jordan 60.0 60.7 59.3
Albania 60.0 56.5 63.4
Indonesia 59.7 58.8 60.6
Micronesia, Federated States of 59.6 58.7 60.6
Peru 59.4 58.0 60.8
Fiji 59.4 57.7 61.1
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 59.3 59.7 58.9
Seychelles 59.3 56.4 62.1
Bahamas 59.1 56.7 61.6
Morocco 59.1 58.7 59.4
Brazil 59.1 55.2 62.9
Palau 59.0 57.4 60.7
Philippines 58.9 57.1 60.7
Syrian Arab Republic 58.8 58.8 58.9
Egypt 58.5 58.6 58.3
Vietnam 58.2 56.7 59.6
Nicaragua 58.1 56.4 59.9
Cape Verde 57.6 54.6 60.6
Tuvalu 57.4 57.1 57.6
Tajikistan 57.3 55.1 59.4
Marshall Islands 56.8 56.0 57.6
Kazakhstan 56.4 51.5 61.2
Kyrgyzstan 56.3 53.4 59.1
Pakistan 55.9 55.0 56.8
Kiribati 55.3 53.9 56.6
Iraq 55.3 55.4 55.1
Solomon Islands 54.9 54.5 55.3
Turkmenistan 54.3 51.9 56.7
Guatemala 54.3 52.1 56.4
Maldives 53.9 54.4 53.3
Mongolia 53.8 51.3 56.3
Sao Tome and Principe 53.5 52.1 54.8
Bolivia 53.3 52.5 54.1
India 53.2 52.8 53.5
Vanuatu 52.8 51.3 54.4
Nauru 52.5 49.8 55.1
Democratic People's Republic of Korea 52.3 51.4 53.1
Bhutan 51.8 51.4 52.2
Myanmar 51.6 51.4 51.9
Bangladesh 49.9 50.1 49.8
Yemen 49.7 49.7 49.7
Nepal 49.5 49.4 49.5
Gambia 48.3 47.2 49.4
Gabon 47.8 46.6 49.0
Papua New Guinea 47.0 45.5 48.5
Comoros 46.8 46.1 47.5
Lao People's Democratic Republic 46.1 45.0 47.1
Cambodia 45.7 43.9 47.5
Ghana 45.5 45.0 46.0
Congo 45.1 44.3 45.9
Senegal 44.6 43.5 45.6
Equatorial Guinea 44.1 42.8 45.4
Haiti 43.8 42.4 45.2
Sudan 43.0 42.6 43.5
Côte d'Ivoire 42.8 42.2 43.3
Cameroon 42.2 41.5 43.0
Benin 42.2 41.9 42.6
Mauritania 41.4 40.2 42.5
Togo 40.7 40.0 41.4
South Africa 39.8 38.6 41.0
Chad 39.4 38.6 40.2
Kenya 39.3 39.0 39.6
Nigeria 38.3 38.1 38.4
Swaziland 38.1 37.8 38.4
Angola 38.0 37.0 38.9
Djibouti 37.9 37.7 38.1
Guinea 37.8 37.0 38.5
Afghanistan 37.7 36.7 38.7
Eritrea 37.7 38.5 36.9
Guinea-Bissau 37.2 36.8 37.5
Lesotho 36.9 36.6 37.2
Madagascar 36.6 36.5 36.8
Somalia 36.4 35.9 36.9
Democratic Republic of the Congo 36.3 36.4 36.2
Central African Republic 36.0 35.6 36.5
United Republic of Tanzania 36.0 35.9 36.1
Namibia 35.6 35.8 35.4
Burkina Faso 35.5 35.3 35.7
Burundi 34.6 34.6 34.6
Mozambique 34.4 33.7 35.1
Liberia 34.0 33.8 34.2
Ethiopia 33.5 33.5 33.5
Mali 33.1 32.6 33.5
Zimbabwe 32.9 33.4 32.4
Rwanda 32.8 32.9 32.7
Uganda 32.7 32.9 32.5
Botswana 32.3 32.3 32.2
Zambia 30.3 30.0 30.7
Malawi 29.4 29.3 29.4
Niger 29.1 28.1 30.1
Sierra Leone 25.9 25.8 26.0