
Italy’s Struggling Economy Has World’s Healthiest People - imartin2k
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-20/italy-s-struggling-economy-has-world-s-healthiest-people
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jaclaz
Yep, and also Italians "do it better", what gives?

It is rare to see all together such a set of (I have to presume) unrelated
items, such as the popularity of a TV show as related to a (presumed) excess
of physicians, or the high public debt or the scarcity of jobs connected
(How?) to a long life.

About the Mediterranean Diet and the availability of fresh products (which in
itself are IMHO very good things) it is doubtful that the good people of
Iceland share the same, still they are almost as long living as the Italians.

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m0llusk
This has gotten a lot of study and comes up often here. The issue appears to
be the same as with the so-called Hispanic Health Paradox where poor and
likely obese Hispanic Americans have better health and life expectancy than
the general population. The cause appears to be socialization and lifestyle as
both Southern Italians and Hispanic Americans tend to form large accepting
family groups. What is less discussed is the downside of this which is that
with more social bonding and acceptance these physically healthy people are
less likely to rebel in general or become extremely wealthy from business
success. Neurotic and unhealthy people may have more personal challenges but
build more dynamic economies and societies.

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toyg
Less likely to rebel, really? WASP-powered US has had the same system of
government for more than 200 years. In that timeframe, Spain and Italy saw
several revolutions, upheavals, counter-revolutions, and fundamental shifts in
democratic systems during peacetime. Even in the 1946-92 timeframe, the so
called "First Republic" in Italy had a different government almost every year,
and at various points it was on the verge of civil war.

I think you are confusing economic dynamics with political ones. Despite What
Marx would say, the two don't always require each other.

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lucideer
I think you're misreading the above poster. He's not generalising to the
entire Italian (/Spanish) population.

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NTDF9
Could it just be possible that money/economics/choices/more/more/more is not
what makes humans satisfied?

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return0
does satisfied mean healthier?

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NTDF9
Does forced eating of healthy food and exercise mean healthier?

My original comment was more about lifestyle than anything else. Healthier
lifestyle does not require a higher GDP.

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return0
> Does forced eating of healthy food and exercise mean healthier?

I think it does, but i totally agree that healthy lifestyle does NOT require
money.

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fibo
I am italian, living in Italy. A part that we have a lot of taxes, if Italy
had not 40% of taxes on my salary, probably economy will be better than
Germany. There are a lot of corrupt politicians.

A part that, I am 38 and everybody says I look around 5 years younger, I am
trying to understand why. It would be really interesting to know it, so I
could keep going in the same direction. Maybe cause i always try to avoid
stress? Maybe cause I always arrive 5 minutes late? Maybe cause I always try
to joke and laugh every day? I do not know, I would like to advice others as
well.

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increment_i
It's also worth noting that Italians experience some of the lowest heart
disease rates in the world - one of the major killers in North America. If you
want to live long, I guess live like the Italians?

My completely unsubstantiated theory behind this goes like this:

1) A diet rich in (non-animal) oils, i.e. Olive oil

2) Live in a sunny, but not oppressively warm, country.

3) Give family time and traditions far more priority than career ambitions.

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NIL8
Smoking is very common in Italy and I'm curious to know if the study
elaborated on it's effects on these long-living Italians.

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jaclaz
Well we are still going around by clichés, it is not like all Italians have a
large family, are dark, wear a moustache, smoke heavily, sing frequently and
have only warm, sunny climate.

We don't even have anymore (with some exceptions of course) restaurants with
white/red checquered tablecloths ;).

More or less there are 60 millions people spread over a country that is
roughly 1300 Km (that is 800 miles) from north to south, it is hard to
generalize about diet, climate and social structures ...

To give you an example, there is a (invisible) line just north of Bologna,
recipes from regions above it traditionally use butter or animal fat, recipes
from regions below it use olive oil.

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toyg
Well, lard is pretty popular in Bologna and Modena too ;) but I strongly agree
with your overall argument. Italy is very different throughout, and changing
all the time; stereotypes don't help medicine.

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cylinder
Struggling in Washington DC terms.

Thriving in human terms.

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metaphorm
Italy has the 8th largest economy (by 2016 GDP) in the world. this is
struggling? Italy doesn't have a struggling economy. Italy has a disappointing
growth forecast to those who conflate growth with health. Tumors grow rapidly
too.

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earlcp
In-fact people in Iceland probably get a lot of fish oils.

Plus, their green houses grow a lot plant products that go directly to market.

The freshest food and short delivery lines may be the important factors.

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GoToRO
If you translate "struggling economy" to "people use money they didn't work
for" then it's not so surprising.

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kesselvon
Ah yes, definitely don't have axes to grind here.

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return0
Which is not surprising, it's both how much money you make and how you use it.

