AMID the extraordinary spectacle of human physical prowess that is the Olympics, a question arises from the couch. What really determines whether someone is going to be healthy or not?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It's probably not an apple a day, though fruit is good for you.
It's not a government campaign exhorting people to change risky diets and exercise habits, a recent University of Queensland study into preventing cardiovascular disease has confirmed.
According to a demographer at the University of Colorado in Denver, Patrick Krueger, the single most important variable in determining a person's health is their education level.
He told a conference last month that if a person has less than a high school qualification at age 25, they can expect to live another 44 years, on average, but with a postgraduate degree at the same age, they can expect to live another 60 years.
The link between socio-economic factors and disease has long been made, of course, and it remains true that the fewer advantages a person starts with, the more likely they are to smoke, eat too much of the wrong thing and not exercise.
The data shows more educated people are more likely to take mitigating lifestyle steps and visit the doctor sooner.
So, from a healthcare perspective, it makes no sense to be cutting education budgets while healthcare costs are escalating, Krueger argues.
