As I was enjoying my post-lunch coffee, I recalled a recent thread questioning LDS claims of longer life due to the Word of Wisdom. A point was made in the thread that the high proportion of children in Utah would bias death rate data to be too low.
So I decided to do some arithmetic.
Using CDC age-adjusted death rate data for the eleven western states for year 2011, and total population numbers for those same states I calculated population weighted age adjusted death dates.
Western states average: 672 deaths per 100,000
Utah: 699 deaths per 100,000

In other words the adjusted death rate for Utah is slightly higher than for the Western US as a region.

Based on this data, it would be difficult to attribute any claims of longevity to the Word of Wisdom.

Longevity is age at death.

True, but an age-adjusted death rate is a good gauge. The only thing in the WoW which can increase longevity is not using tobacco. There are good statistics on that and that alone would give non-smoking Mormons a longer average life - but not a whit more than the average of other non-smokers.

"age-adjusted death rate is a good gauge"

Why not just use the real thing?

smokefree alone would "give non-smoking Mormons a longer average life - but not a whit more than the average of other non-smokers"

Of course.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/living-to-90-and-beyond/

Tobacco product makes a big difference. No question.

But: alcohol in moderation helps you live longer. Likewise caffeine in moderation.

You might want to get your medical advice from a medical source. The WoW doesn't qualify.

These numbers suggest Utah is above average in longevity, but not at the top of the list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_life_expectancy

Two interesting points:
- Utah has no figures for African Americans or Native Americans - groups which invariably have lower life expectancies than other groups in those states that have statistics, so Utah's numbers may be elevated by that fact.
- Whites in Utah have lower life expectancies than Asian Americans or Latinos - groups which are somewhat less likely to be Mormon.

The Seventh Day Adventists show they live about 10 years longer than the average.

This is an interesting article on longevity.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/31/seventh-day-adventists-life-expectancy_n_5638098.html

Not smoking or drinking will (or should) increase life expectancy on the average. For some people it makes no difference. My Uncle Lawrence smoked all his life and drank heavily and died at age 89 of emphasema. Obviously he "beat the average" even with very bad health habits, but he probably would have made it into his ninties without the smoking and drinking. Or maybe he would have got overweight and died earlier. Anyway, the point is that some things are obvious but they don't prove Mormonism is "true". Japanese people live longer than we do. They drink more than the average American and their rate of smoking is higher but they are not as overweight. And they are not Mormons (only a tiny fraction).

I went to a conference on SS and the number one cause of death of retirees is smoking. Just by not smoking, Mormons are well ahead of the game.

The rest of the WoW is useless. Moderate drinking is better for you than not drinking at all, though alcoholism will kill you. Coffee and tea are good for you so eschewing them is detrimental to your health and productivity. Mormons eat too much and don't exercise, unlike Adventists.

If you want to follow a health religious-based regime, follow the Adventists. They live about 10 years longer than other Americans.

Smoking seems to be the only benefit--though there is much more awareness these days about the consequences of smoking so people certainly don't need to be mormon to know that smoking is bad.

I thought there are gobs of studies that say that coffee, tea, and wine in moderation are good for you... if that's the case, then the word of wisdom or whatever is outdated.

Judging from the amount of mormon coworkers who suck down sugary drinks and eat processed foods and don't exercise, ... I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the word of wisdom isn't doing much for longevity.

The Seventh Day Adventists have been shown to live 10 years longer than average, and Loma Linda, CA is considered a blue zone, where people live longer than average lifespans. They are strictly vegetarian, and Loma Linda doesn't even have a single fast food restaurant in the city limits.

Mormons from what I've observed might avoid alcohol and tobacco, but they tend to consume a lot of sugar and processed foods. Another thing is that many Mormon recipes call for processed foods as ingredients as they're a cheap way to feed a crowd.

I often joke that keeping the WoW killed me. I have fourth stage Non-Alcoholic Cirrhosis of the Liver. Recent studies have shown that as little as 1/2 cup of coffee a day is Liver protective and they recommend it to people with Liver problems who have yet to descend into Cirrhosis.

All those years...wasted. I actually don't like coffee that much (unless it's really good coffee and it's after a really great meal), but I force myself to down a half a cup a day. If I had just broken the WoW (which I NEVER did), I'd probably be fine, today!

The studies showing Seventh Day Adventists live such a long life, seem to be done by Loma Linda University, which is a Seventh Day Adventist University.I think some bias could be involved in their studies.