[t0mpr1c3]

> This is largely outside of the control of the medical system

I assure you that preventative medicine does exist, even in the USA. Moreover, healthcare interventions for people with "lifestyle" diseases such as obesity have been extremely effective in reducing mortality from downstream causes such cardiovascular disease (e.g. statins).

[Legend2440]

Statins help a bit (and are widely prescribed in the US) but they don't fix the problem.

Diet and exercise are huge health variables that doctors don't really have the tools to do anything about.

[t0mpr1c3]

The problem we are discussing here is mortality, and statins definitely have an effect on mortality.

Obesity can be prevented, can be treated, and its effects on health can be managed. We are actually living through something of a miracle in the treatment of lifestyle diseases. For example, the proportion of total deaths among adults with diabetes from vascular causes (heart disease) declined from 48% in 1988–94 to 34% in 2010–15 (https://sci-hub.st/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30314-3).

The USA is not some kind of global outlier with a uniquely unhealthy population. The problem is *very obviously* something to do with how healthcare is provided here.

[Legend2440]

>The USA is not some kind of outlier with a uniquely unhealthy population.

It is, actually. Our obesity rates are the highest in the world at 41%. This is nearly double many European countries, and five times higher than Japan or South Korea. Only a handful of tiny Polynesian islands have us beat.

Better treatments for diabetes are great, but what's even better is not getting diabetes at all by losing weight.

[t0mpr1c3]

That's not accurate (in terms of obesity rates, USA ranks #18; Egypt is #17) and does not explain the lower life expectancy in the USA.