First, by having a population that almost exclusively does not smoke or over drink, Mormons do in fact gain a few years over the general population. However, it has long pointed out that they actually live longer then the national average when one factors for such health choices.

However, Mormons are almost an exclusively a white population, and as this United States Senate report points out, whites live significantly longer then blacks for a variety of reasons.

http://aging.senate.gov/crs/aging1.pdf

Now, I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, I don't think anyone has ever crunched them, but I am willing to bet that if you factored in for both race, and low smoking factors, the Mormon life expectancy gap will suddenly vanish.

BTW, this post is in no way meant to be insensitive to anyone of any race. There are a variety of reasons why there is a race gap on life expectancy. I for one hope that as the situation is studied, the gap can be closed.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2012 10:58PM by forbiddencokedrinker.

It's probably the same kind of bullshit as "the fastest growing church in the world.

There are some mo's that I swear will never die. They are too mean to die.

of being marginalized in society. They have no idea of the privilege, and advantage they are born into merely by the color of their skin. Slavery, segregation by Jim Crow laws, continued discrimination, etc. has been a tragedy, and a huge setback to many African Americans for generations. Imagine the stress from discrimination, and the resulting financial stress from opportunities denied. Less wealth, and access to services means less access to health care.

I can't help but think its been the same for many women.

Racist.

makes YOU the racist.

But you're too damn racist to even see that.

I recall a doctor writing about a Black patient who showed up late for an appointment with elevated blood pressure. He just couldn't get a taxi. It dawned on the (white) doctor that one aggravating factor in the statistically higher incidence of hypertension among Blacks could be continually dealing with being treated as second-class citizens.

60 minutes did a story a few years back in which they had a white guy and a black guy who were, except for race, two peas in a pod--both young, pleasant, middle-class possible yuppie types.

They followed them both around with a hidden camera. The difference was startling. In a shoe store the white guy is waited on immediately. In the same shoe store the black guy is ignored. In a CD store the white guy browsed freely. In the same CD store the manager stood at the end of the aisle watching the black guy carefully. The white guy with a flat tire gets help right away. The black guy with a white tire waits and waits. The black guy responding to a "for rent" ad is told it has already been rented. The white guy, who shows up at the same place an hour later is handed a key and told where the door to the apartment is.

That kind of thing has to have some bearing on one's health and longevity,

Also, as per the original thread, Mormons tend to be conservative, group-based, family-centric people. This tends to put them outside the statistics of gang members and extreme poverty people. Also, I question a lot of the statistics about low incidence of heart disease in Utah. I think that is skewed by the fact that the large family size means that the average age for a Mormon in Utah is something like 16. Heart disease (and cancer and others) is a disease that tends to have a later onset. So if you take the total incidences of heart disease in Utah and divide by the population, you get a low per-capita number. I think that the amount of ice cream consumed in Utah contributes to heart disease as much as smoking would.

who are also the poorest. Not all whites have it good.

That's true. I pointed out to friends years ago that there is a gap in performance between races on tests, until you look at poor white Appalachian whites who do just as poorly. I know a lot of poor Appalachian whites, having grown up in a stake that covered such an area. Poverty is a double whammy. It limits a child's educational opportunities, and it gives the same child poor nutrition at a time when it's brain needs it the most.

Personaly I think the huge cap will actualy end up the other way.If you have no more little perks in life than food you'll eat yourself to death given the chance.

'Figures don't lie, but Liars figures....'


Lies, Damn lies, and Statistics

Healthwise, Utah is also known for more testicular cancer. It is due to many old guys like the GAs being around. And remember that gods have a tendancy to live for a long time too.
Unfortunately, Utah's suicide rate and depression rate is VERY HIGH - it involves mostly women, what with waiting on those peniS holders, (er priesthood holders). Utah give the expression "THE HOOD" a rather gag meaning.
Anyone for green jello, funeral potatoes, or ice cream?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2012 03:28AM by enoughenoch19.

Or, like my parents, more years of physical and mental decline.

Meanwhile, whenever there's a World's Oldest Living Person, it's never a Mormon, and often someone who drinks and smokes.

Some very good points have been posted here.

I noticed when I'm out and about that sometimes couples will edge me out of a line we're waiting in because I don't have a big man with me to keep them back.

I have had horrible treatment at the hands of priesthood leaders because they knew my husband was gone and would not do anything to them for their misbehavior.

I've been ignored in stores when wanting to be assisted. I was well dressed at the time, but I was alone. I guess I didn't have the fancy shoes a lot of married middle class women walk around in, or a wedding ring. I don't know.

It is stressful. I have had to brace myself and wonder what kind of treatment I'd get at the garage for my car. (Hint; Don't go to the dealer if you can help it.)

The statistics are skewed. The women living the high stress life of a molly-mo are more likely to die younger than their counterpart.

The Mormons DO NOT have the longevity factor in their favor more than most. They just think they do. IMO

Know what makes you live longer? Being happy. If someone is anethetised enough cerebrally to be very happy in Mormonism, I think that will do it for him or her. If it makes a person happy to leave Mormonism and pursue something--anything--else, I'm for that. Coffee makes me very happy. Beer, too. I think they're going to make me live longer because they invoke either good times (as with beer) or mellow times (as with both beer and coffee). Certainly I could still get a brain haemorrhage or cancer or something, but the coffee and beer aren't going to shorten my days, only make the remaining ones sweeter.

The above has been mostly philosophy. Check with your doctor before engaging in sexual activity.

Statistics lie and lie well for those unfamiliar with the pitfalls of causation.

For example, incidence of cancer is far less in the West than Upper East Coast. Why? Who knows, but more Mormons live out in the West, skewing numbers on cancer rates.

http://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/map/map.noimage.php

Generate your own map if you want. Go figure that California and Texas do just as well as Utah in cancer rates. It could be stress, it could be arid conditions, it could be population and less exposure to viruses, it could be specific kinds of pollution, cleaner water, more sun exposure and vitamin D benefits, or any combination thereof. Who knows? But the West in general is healthier to live in for cancer.

Statistics are the best lies in the world because people attribute false causality to non-causal attributes, like beliefs.

I guarantee that any study about Mormons living longer for being Mormon is full of crap and will not hold up over time. Just like those religious prayer studies proved that those that were prayed for did not heal better in hospitals, despite previous "statistics" that said otherwise.

For the U.S., 2004 data shows the following life expectancy:
Black male: 69.8 years
White male: 75.7 years
Black female: 76.5 years
White female: 80.8 years

So, you are probably correct

What about the factor of who is a Mormon?

For example, if I stop being Mormon but never have my name removed, I am listed as Mormon under their database matching and when I die, I go into the wrong column, until I AGE OFF their list at 106 or so.

Remember, they don't remove anyone who dies.

I think this impairs the study--what do you statisticians think?


Anagrammy

i'm sorry if someone has pointed this out and I missed it, but are there any life expectancy studies on mormons vs non-mormons in third world countries, or even mormons vs non mormons in hawaii?

As for studies in the US, I wonder if this is one occasion where they provide statistics/numbers for active only members, rather than all the names on their rolls. What is considered mormon, for the sake of the study? Being an active mormon at death? I suspect the study would find different results if inactives and inactive at time of death were factored in.

To my knowledge, there is no study which confirms that Mormons live longer.

There was one back in the 90s, the Mormons still harp on it, which is why I thought of this when I read the Senate report.

I think you mean the Enstrom studies. They don't support the hypothesis that Mormons live longer. They only support the hypothesis that Mormon highpriests from California are healthier than the average US population.

Well, duh, if you take a sample of relatively affluent, stress-free white dudes where the prostate cancer victims have already been weeded out of...

Obviously most Mormons do not smoke and probably fewer of them drink or use hard drugs. I believe that Mormons do, in fact live longer however...

Their argument is a red herring. The longevity is due to not smoking or doing harmful things to their bodies, not the Mormonism. They attempt to portray the idea that they invented not smoking and not doing drugs and have some kind of patent on it. They would imply that if you don't do some stupid things with your life then you are a defacto Mormon.

Forcing people to do certain things is the real issue here. I'd be willing to bet people with health insurance live longer and healthier than people without it. I wonder how the Mormons feel about Obama's health care plan then. If it is all about coersion and force they must like it.

miner8 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Obviously most Mormons do not smoke and probably
> fewer of them drink or use hard drugs. I believe
> that Mormons do, in fact live longer however...

Belief is not fact. To my knowledge, there is no factual evidence for this belief.

> The longevity is due to not smoking or doing harmful things
> to their bodies, not the Mormonism.

I agree that the only health benefit that can be derived from the WoW is due to, and only to, the prohibition on smoking.

> They attempt to portray the idea that they invented not
> smoking and not doing drugs and have some kind of patent
> on it.

Except that the WoW doesn't say anything about drugs. In fact, it says nothing about current health hazards (or real 19th century health hazards, for that matter).

It's good that you point out that maybe there are no reputable studies that show Mormons live longer. I guess I am playing devil's advocate-as if there was such a study it would not matter anyways. If eating fish and drinking a beer a day makes one healthy, do I need to give up my US citizenship and move to Sweden where they routinely do this resulting in the world's longest lifespans? I do not need to become a Swede in order to drink beer and eat fish!
Not too many people make unbiased Mormon studies. Most are probably done by the LDS church and are not to be trusted for conflict of interest. But I guess my point is it would not matter if such a study showed this or not; It is not the Mormonism that could take credit for this unless you are trying to mix science with hocus pokus.

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

What's the trend?

Wealth? cold states? Less populated states?

Cold and wealth perhaps, given that FL bumps up the South.


The idea that non-drinkers live longer is not supported by some data (though I think these studies may not be completely validated).

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090429205609.htm



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2012 01:15PM by Jesus Smith.

If there has been any truth in the 90s studies, I tend to think it is disappearing. Back in the 90s, it appeared pretty clear to me (I had just moved to Utah from Indiana) that Utahns were skinnier and in better shape than people from the midwest and the south. Now, I don't see such a discrepancy in obesity. Utahns are getting fatter and are joining the rest of American society. Thus, there are only two factors that contribute to a longer Mormon lifespan, if there is one, no smoking and no drinking (and no drinking, as opposed to light drinking) is not, necessarily a life-extender.

I actually tnink the Mormon "diet" is despicable. Diet soda is worse than regular soda and far worse than coffee. I see people around me guzzling diet mountain dew and diet coke, eating donuts. McDonalds. Metabolic Syndrome, Type II diabetes. On the way. Now because they have to wear garmies all the time, probably fewer will work out. My prediction: within 10 years, Utah will have the same lifespan rates of the south.

Stronger specimens with long-live genes survived to reproduce. Those old time mormon families tend to be a product of natural selection which is strange for the ones who don't believe in evolution.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2012 05:34PM by Cheryl.

aren't the people who maintain the "Mediterranian Diet" the longest lived?

certainly they're the most 'Heart Healthy', and heart disease is about the most common cause of death, isn't it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet

Sometimes I write some data I read a year or two ago. Swedes used to be in a virtual tie with Japan but appeared to have slipped to number 9 now with Japan maintaining number one. I find this so odd because they are actually quite heavy smokers. I guess tea, rice and fish do wonders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

Edit: Japan number 12 in cigarette consumption http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_cigarette_consumption_per_capita



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2012 08:58PM by miner8.

If you believe in something, if you believe there is a strong purpose to your life, you will live longer. Mormons have a strong belief system, a very strong purpose to life. There is meaning to their lives--do Church work, missionary work, etc. When life gets tough they turn to their beliefs. When the world makes no sense, they turn inward and gain strength from their religion. Mormonism is not true, of course, but the irony is that belief will keep you alive longer, whether or not that belief is true.

People in a lot of other situations don't have the same kind of purpose. They are born in a big city, they don't feel special, and they don't have any strong belief that will boost them up when they're down. They are born to parents who are themselves lost in a meaningless world.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2012 07:13PM by behindcurtain.

The best thing you can do for your health is to be wealthy. There is a strong correlation. Blacks probably have shorter lives because they are poor. Another correlation is that religious tend to live a little longer. So rob a bank and convert! ;-)

I like this explanation best:

Mormons live longer because they are not actually living.


Anagrammy