2476 Americans are losing to the Brits

the battle of the bulge. We are more likely to be overweight and are less healthy. I looked all through the article in JAMA 2006;295:2037-2045, and "based on self-reported illnesses and biological markers of disease, US residents are much less healthy than their English counterparts and these differences exist at all points of the SES distribution." The study used citizens over 50 who were non-Hispanic whites so that they weren't dealing with problems of immigration in either country.

Still, I submit that a white American isn't ethnically or genetically the same as a white citizen of Britain. Even though we speak English, that is not our dominate ethnic group. All of my father's ancestors were Scots-Irish, all of my mother's were Swiss and German (although there was no Germany when they arrived here). I think the researchers need to take a closer look at our differences, not just our social economic scores and education levels.

Smoking is a big problem in both countries in this age group, and that contibutes to lung disease, cancer, and myocardial infarctions. But obesity is, pardon the pun, huge in the USA contributing to higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, and myocardial infarctions.

I read this article in print, which is much easier than in pixels, but you can click open the tables and see the information. You really can't dispute that we're fat and not so healthy. I just don't think they've sniffed out the reasons for the differences (other than weight).