Why is it the elderly are living as long as ever, but are sicker? 

"A patient cured, is a customer lost" Motto of the BIG PHARMA corporations.

We’re not living longer we’re dying longer. Commercial interests have the food, medicine and governments in their grip.

I guessed the answers even before I watched it. Lack of exercise. Overweight. Junk food diet. Overprescription of drugs. Environmental poisons of air, water and food. Unemployment.

We are not all richer, only some are richer and living better.

I'm 66 and have a variety of health problems,heart , high blood pressure. Dad died in his mid fifties of a heart attack so have well outlived him, Mum died in her late 70s of stroke. We were very poor in the 60s and had quite poor diet although we used to have Haliborange tablets. Always lived an active outdoor life and still have a positive attitude. I think Stress is probably the major factor and as a 'Newbie' pensioner I think this government is raising the stress and insecurity levels of OAPs, probably deliberately.

“Medical science is making such remarkable progress that soon none of us will be well.” . . . . . . . (Aldous Huxley)

Take responsibility, You are responsible for your health, not your doctor. In this information age any education you need is at your fingertips. You are in charge, take charge!

I wholeheartedly agree. My mum born in 1911 was the same weight all her adult life, 8 stone. On the other hand, I am now in my 70's and two stone heavier than she was and I don't eat fast food or sugary drinks. But I am Coeliac and I believe there is something wrong with the way our food in being grown and produced. I am amazed when I buy a ham to cook myself, there is a label on the packaging listing all the ingredients in the ham!!!!! All I want is ham! Ham like my mother bought in her lifetime!

As a sixty seven year old Cyclist, walker and ski instructor, I consider this timely and excellent commentary which contained the solutions. Noticeably people are carrying more weight.

Only one hundred days in. I’m sick of them already. The thought of another five years of this lot will have the whole country on life support.

one answer big pharma

I'm the same age as you Richard. My take is this , Treatment is far more profitable than cure. One of the differences between the previous generation and us that you didn't mention is injections. ....... I also feel that corporate profiteers have run our country for most of our lifetime. Great show Richard ❤

Currently in a hotel, able bodied people queuing for a lift to rise one or two floors. Seems to be the norm.

My tuppence worth, there are articles out there explaining how, due to modern farming practises, our food has less nutritional value than it did 40/50 years ago combined with everything we ingest being drenched in Glyphosate and then combine that with less societal cohesion and plenty of stress due to there being ''no such thing as society anymore'' and sadly but somewhat inevitability we end end up here...

pureblood granny here

My friend is a GP. 5 years back, he commented to me " We are very good in this country at keeping ill people alive". He admitted that he'd never say that in public, but he said we have this approach of pumping people with drugs to keep them going - something other nations do not do.

The healthier oldies had a frugal but healthy diet, and walked or bicycled much, much more.

Carbohydrates, lack of exercise, home entertainment, lack of community, soil degradation, self indulgence, pessimism.

Poor diet lack of exercise, stress. It isn't rocket surgery.

The constant use of pharmaceuticals, eating over processed foods, little or no exercise whatsoever. My opinion is many people are being specifically targeted to get certain tests done, then being diagnosed with things like blood pressure which can be sorted without the use of drugs. Drs constantly over prescribing. Biggest causes of sickness and deaths is iatrogenisis.

Just want to point out Life Expectancy is dropping- people are in fact dying younger & have been doing since 2014.

First of all the anti virus injection was designed to cause blood clots growth in the veins. This is why young people, healthy people have had heart attacks, and no reason apart from that I’ve just mentioned. Older peoples veins are softer more flexible so they do not suffer from the clotting so much, but they suffer the pain for longer throughout their old age. also, we must mention the foods that have been tampered with by these large corporations that overlooked by our governments.

One of the other factors that you did not mention was that the generation in our 60s are having to care for very elderly parents that have lived into their late 80s and 90s together with providing childcare for grandchildren. They are the squeezed generation. The collapse in adult social care and the cost of living crisis for the younger generation means that not only do we worry about these things but we are having to pick up the pieces, whilst being blamed for everything. That means stress, which also means that you do not take care of yourself as well as you should.

I'm 67, obese, in pain every day of my life. Pain l caused myself from food addiction. Food addiction is as bad as any other addiction.

I think the nations diet as changed , and the exercise regime of older people , and mental well being ,and don't forget standard of living . Yes technology and drugs may expand life ,but your immune system and well being is important . I'm poor financially but rich mentally , today I will walk into town ,jog at times with a 100lb burgen of my back ,jog a little , and sometimes I push my self to extremes , I can't remember the enzyme it releases , but it makes you live longer , my reflexes are as quick as a 20 year old . But I must add this ,poor dental health doesn't help with health ,and this government knows it ,it's a disgrace .

My wife and I are 72 and attend a gym in London 5 times per week..we are the oldest members by 25 years…nearly all the 600 members are under 30 ..I believe there are 5 over 50 ..very sad

Maybe just maybe we should concentrate more on having a quality life than a long life...

I’m 86 and have been retired 30 years. Throughout my retirement I have visited places such as houses of the National Trust and observed other visitors. To me it is obvious that baby boomers are in poorer shape than we were at their age.

More importantly, why are young people dying in greater number than prior to 2021? It's a real puzzle.

Junk food prob started in Scotland in the mid seventies when we were 16, we drank more alcohol than the generation before. We were starting to all get cars. You could say the 70's were the start of crap .

As a OAP , we received free education ,leaving University debt free and the best of the NHS , strong unions, plus affordable housing to buy ,unlike now. People leave the University in debt, they can't afford housing most of the time, or high rents , unions weakened. I still go to the gym 6 times a week, my diet is good, I walk & swim too .I receive a decent pension and left the UK 6 years ago , after realising how far to the right the country has gone , & the consensus for a better society for all in the UK has gone .

It’s set to get worse imho. Most schools now seem to be ‘drive ins’ ,rubbish, convenience food, activities by the majority of young now minimal. I’m of relatively mature years and have sought to lead a good healthy lifestyle, and seem to raise eyebrows among my peers when asked what medications ( plural of course) I take and I reply none.

It's down to food and lifestyle. And it's down to attitude; old and sick is a self fulfilling prophesy.

Ultra high processed food keeps a person sick and in need of medications, but doesn’t kill in most cases. Big pharmaceutical companies, owned by the same conglomerates as the food companies sell the medications. A wash, rinse, repeat process from cradle to grave (eventually). A great business model. It would be interesting to see a spreadsheet analysis of the lifetime value of a person, cradle to grave to one of these companies.

When I was growing up, the Ulster fry (every orifice of a pig fried in lard) was considered extremely unhealthy and we all switched over to breakfast cereals. Without realising how utterly toxic they are!! Even the milk alone without the cereal contains around 40g of sugar (lactose)!!!.. And on an empty morning stomach sends my glucose levels straight into the diabetic regime!! And I'm not diabetic! Then there is the rest of the crap we eat for lunch and the unhealthy convenience foods many eat for dinner....

We're living longer knackered.

ever considered over-diagnosis ? cancer is most certainly over diagnosed and testing healthy people has no medical benefit yet everyone thinks it does , I am happy to go when my number is up and I do not want to be jump started

Well Im 71 and in very good health

In my case at 82 Long Covid given me by then PM Johnson in cutting the mild safety measures in place in 2020 so I lost 80% of my strength & energy after Johnsin agreed with his Backbenchers 'The Old need to die.' Fact severl of my friends did die & a younger professor known writer friend spent three years in bed. One Million UK Citizens went down with Long Covid. Many dying. The billionaire class putting out junk processed foods overloaded with Sugar, Salt & Trans fats in their gleaming sickness supermarkets.

Oils with a shelf life. Plus sugar.

My parents were born in the late 1920s. But both died in their mid 60s from forms of cancer. Lived in council housing till the early 1970s. But in a coal industry area. My old man when the Sunday beef joint was used would scrape the pan for the beef dripping! He worked in the pits then industrial jobs including building construction and as a fitters mate. Myself I worked for over forty years as an maintenance and installation work until 2019 I lost my job on the grounds of capability. As I have arthritis in my toes, ankles which are unstable, knees, fingers and thumbs in both hands and lumbar spondylitis. As a bairn I was plagued with bronchitis and in later life developed asthma(which in the main is controlled unless I get a cold and then I have developed severe acute asthma). Along with high blood pressure and recently high cholesterol and fibromyalgia. I was a fan of Birds Eye beef burgers, home made potato scallops, sausages etc in my 40s and I remember my dad saying “ you’ll regret eating that stuff”. Then a few years ago in a BP review the nurse commented on my weight and if I’d like do something about it. So I enrolled in a 10 week nhs well being course centred around sat fats, salt, sugars, fibre etc. And through that learning I changed my whole perspective around what I eat and drink. And subsequently the whole rabbits hole of UPFs. To my untrained eye I’d put some of this down to the environment and lifestyle your brought up in incl wealth/poor, is it a industrial setting where you live, what you are eating, being overweight you’re less likely to exercise, is it a physical and manual occupation(as in my work I crawled around on floors, ducting and lofts, chopped brick work and plaster out and carried heavy drums of cable) leading to wear and tear of joints etc. Combine these factors and you’ll face a tsunami of conditions earlier! Sorry for the longish ramble…

Diseases were not identified and reported as much previously as they are today. Secondly, atmosperic nuclear testing in the 50s and early 60s has contributed to high cancer rates

Because we have this stupid "Live forever" policy. In the past people expected to die around 70-not that many have worthwhile quality lives into their 80's ,but "Live forever" forces medical "care" onto people that would have simply died of these natural causes 40/50 years ago. There is no "Dramatic increase in dementia" ,its simply because we keep people alive ,forced to "live forever" despite zero life quality and expensive misery for the sufferer and family the only outcome.

It’s due to things like remote controls on TVs & more labour saving devices , more cars leading to lack of exercise . Also the diet & the chemicals in modern processed foods , more long term stress , side effects from medications . Most of my medications state that they shouldn’t be taken with other medications I have been also prescribed . I have to take them or I would soon end up in the bone yard if I didn’t. . If I complained about every ailment I suffer , I would need van to load my prescription drugs in , to carry them all home .

More of the second cohort, had sedentary jobs, did not live local to their workplaces (to which they could walk) than the first cohort. This 'background' physical exercise has probably contributed to the findings in this study.

So big pharma earn money from repeat prescriptions

Big pharma. Profitability. Getting treatment for depression. Ask them for help, which doesn't come in tablet form. You will be overwhelmed by the lack of options. Your doctor will treat you as a prior if you don't accept the medications.

When my dad was in his last weeks he came off most meds……..his swollen legs which gave him so much pain he wanted to die……..went back to normal …….he died better than he lived 😢😢 miss you Dad ❤

We’re not living longer we’re dying longer.

Highly processed refined seed oils that could be called industrial lubricants could be an issue.

My cynical mind kicks in. Why is it that so many people (especially those older 60) are on so many meds? And yet people seem to be more ill generally. It's a great money maker for the pharma industry isn't it.

If I had to guess, I'd say that it is because modern medical advancements are keeping people with chronic illness alive longer. In earlier years they would have died. Only those who were extraordinarily healthy lived into their old age.

And you can't get to see a doctor anymore

Is it also possible that part of this can be explained by earlier generations may have had significant numbers dying younger and not appearing in the statistics but those that lived to their 70s may have been the strongest, healthy minority (due to DNA etc), whereas baby boomers might have lived longer in greater numbers but this includes a larger group of less healthy individuals?

Especially the jabbed

What about chemicals on our food and in our homes?

Becouse life is so hard and stressful now and half of society has no comunity around them because modern british society creates almost no opetunitys for socialisation to adults and not having any social ties causes a lot of stress

1.wellbeing and job security changed in 80s.Being treated as a unit of production was difficult to adjust to. 2. NHS over prescription of drugs gave people impression that a pill could solve medical issues. Caused de-motivation from takin responsibility for own health. 3.Rise in earnings,rise in hours worked by men and women.Processed foods eaten more.More calories consumed, in lower nutrients foods. 4.obesity. possibly partly caused by toxic additives to processed foods messing up metabolism. 5.Lack of exercise.too many hours staring at a screen. Modern work life,then the reality that two working parents did not give a good quality of life for many people,did cause much stress and ill health.increase in smoking,drug and alcohol consumption. Is it really surprising that people are sicker in old age?

Fried chicken. Beer. Pretzels. Not enough of them so people destroy themselves eating salad!

Big money on sick old people

Life expectancy is longer in Australia than any other developed country.

Ancel Keys: hold my high-fructose corn syrup.

Illness is also a big economy booster.

I was born in 1936, a time when tuberculosis, diphtheria, poliomyelitis and many other chronic conditions were still prevalent. Is it possible that the infant death rate in those years had the effect of ‘weeding out’ those who might have suffered from ill-health later on in life? Just a thought which might not stand up statistically

There's a kind of "boomer exceptionalism": many people of a certain age in Britain tend to think that they can get away with having terrible lifestyle and diet habits and that nothing bad will happen to them. The generation that has this attitude is now reaching the age that all the processed food and driving everywhere is catching up with them.

“Improved lifestyle” I would suggest is a beginning; ultra processed “foods” which appear toxic with only a cursory investigation is the biggest suspect!

We don’t have more uncertainty and stress than the silent generation who faced WW2 and a scant welfare state, but we may well have a good deal less resilience!

It's diet, specially processed food, almost all of the decline can be attributed to this single variable. Shocking that the paper doesn't provide this obvious answer.

Post WW2 I believe meat/egg production was ramped up then eventually more processed stuff started coming out with high sugar + salt and saturated fats, I think people don't realise things like deli meats are carcinogenic. Also alcohol. For diet alone a whole food plant based diet is likely best for positive outcomes, but exercise and mental health do play a role but they are all linked

'As long as ever' - nope. Life expectancy 1950 63, Now 82. Massively different. People are sicker because- 1) they now live long enough to have more illnesses 2) better health care means they are more likely to survive, and then have another illness 3) Medication allows conditions that used to kill you, to be survived- but with symptoms. 4) When poor health was punished (no work) you hid it; when rewarded (benefits etc) you announce it. 5) Many are not sick, just infirm. Not the same thing- they are wearing out. Simple. Even your AAF view of the world must recognize this. Rationing- those born after the war also experienced rationing. Look it up.

Not enough Home cooked meals to much fast food,to much air travel to much FOMO.

I find it hard to believe that people such as you and I who were born in the 1950's have lived with "greater stress and uncertainty" than those born in the 1930's and 1940's ... which both covered the great depression years and world war 2.

ANSWER - Healthy patient no $ Dead patients less $ Sick patients more $ Older /sicker most $

The idea that people are living longer by way as a metric that humans are not supposed to live this long, is a bad way of looking at longevity. We humans are genetically able to live well into our 90s and beyond. But as most of us know, so many different factors play into longevity. Richard has rightly pointed out diet. I strongly believe that statistically this is the number one factor driving chronic illness. Add to that our exposure to so many modern toxins, including drugs, chemicals, as well as a cornucopia of pharmaceuticals for every ailment under the sun, we are managing to push the limits a lifespan , but at the expense of, what I would argue is the more valuable metric, a health span.

The following seem to be the main issues that affect us boomers: Sedentary lifestyle Lack of exercise (resistance and cardio), which can lead to sarcopenia Poor diet: not enough protein, lack of fiber, and too much saturated fat. Address these things, and you'll be well on your way to improving your healthspan.

When I think about my mother's generation and about my childhood (I'm almost 70), people had the time to cook from scratch because families could manage on one wage and mum tended to be the homemaker. I know all the food that came into out home was fresh and I was well into my teens before there was much in the shops by way of processed food. The closest thing to a ready meal was a Vesta packet and things like sweets, biscuits, shop bought cakes and sugary drinks were a very occasional treat. My local supermarket now has one aisle for meat, half an aisle for dairy, one aisle for veg but three aisles for crisps, biscuits and sweets. Carrying more weight has been disguised by changing clothing sizes, especially for women. Take a look at a vintage size 14 skirt or pair of trousers - someone in a current size 10 wouldn't get into them if they greased themselves first. t's called "vanity sizing". Another con trick is the "fat free" or "low fat"options - compare the fat free version of yoghurt or mayonnaise with the full fat version - the percentage of sugar in the so-called healthy version is much higher. The same holds for milk. There has always been stress of one kind or another in people's lives but the one thing that has really changed is the amount of sugar and refined carbs in the diet.

Poor quality of food, less physical activity, easy access to alcohol, sugar, motor cars etc

The thing that has had the biggest impact on people's financial security is Thatcher and her unregulated free market economy. This has also allowed food manufacturers to put whatever the hell they like in our food including stuff like anti-freeze in ice cream and dangerous E numbers in our food. These have now been banned following campaigns but god knows what other stuff is in food still. Being in the EU kept our food safer but that has now gone. You have only got to look at what has been allowed to happen to our rivers and the outbreak of e-coli in Devon becausr of the bacteria in our water. And you are right about muscle mass. People think you have to go running or weight training and it puts them off. When you are older you need to concentrate on CORE strength to avoid falls and broken bones especially hips. I'm 70 and I go once a week to a Resistance Band session. It can be done sitting down but the exercise are the equivalent of weight training and push ups designed to strengthen biceps, hip, thigh and calf muscles, improve balance whilst protecting joints from undue stress. There are people in the group who are 80+ and in their mobility has improved vastly over the 21 weeks we have been doing it. It's good for your mental health too.

There are twice as many take away shops as there were 10 years ago. People are eating rubbish daily instead of a weekly or a monthly treat. We have yet another McDonalds being built near our house soon. We are the 51st state without the guns

Food back then was more natural, too much poison in our food today!

I listened to an USA based doctor on Zoe last week talking about dietary issues report a significant increase in old aged cancers in the young

Diet plays a huge part in this. The amount of salt and sugar in many food items is epic and not understood by lots of people. I have a brilliant diet and eat virtually no processed foods

My wite and I are in our mid 80s, and we have noticed many of friends & and acquaintances of approximately 60 are inporrer health thanee wereat thier age and although I,ve suffured heart cancer and other health problems we are more active than they are. I believe the more natural diet and the wartime diet followed byausterity laid down a sound strong foundation for later life.And very few people had cars we walk to school pt & sport were big oart of the curriculum.Also the worlds radiation level has increased since thousands of nuclear tests were carried out in the 1950,s which I believe may be a factor in cancer amongst younger people.

My theory is we have less time to take care of ourselves. Time to cook for ourselves from basic ingredients, to de-stress, to exercise.

Probably because people had three rounds of the 'one size fits all magic potion' in 2021/2022

Most of the elderly are on some form of medication and despite all the books you have they will not divulge exactly If the medication is doing you any good. Active life style, eating less and quality organic food will remedy most things in conjunction with a good state of mind.

Poor diet and inadequate exercise. Rubbish in, rubbish out. No rocket science needed.

Money Saving Expert had a table from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on retirement. The table shows current age and average life expectancy in 5 year bands with life expectancy reduced from 89 years for those currently aged 80 down to 84 years for those currently aged 40 to 60. ONS has statistics for life expectancy and in many areas the life expectancy is lower and the worst areas have much lower average life expectancy such as 74 years of age. The average life expectancy for the poor and homeless will be much lower.

When were the "babtboomers" told about cigarettes and processed foods? They were smoking and eating without any concern of effects on health.

You become what you feed yourself mentally and physically….society has become processed people by those that design the process.

Antibiotics and therefore gut flora (especially for young people) are very different for the two groups.

Because they can't be seen by a GP. You know, those individuals that get 100k a year.

I remember in the 1960s it was not uncommon for men to retire at 65 and be dead in three years. No one cared for much about monitoring health. There was a lot of drinking beer in pubs and at home. Food was sloppy greasy stuff. Now we nurse our bodies long after their use by date.

Processed carbohydrates are a massive problem. The introduction of the Chorley Wood baking method was followed a few years later by a concomitant rise in bowel cancer.

High cholesterol and blood pressure are not diseases, they are adaptive responses to underlying health issues.

I exercise regularly because I have seen the types of decline you've talked about in my parents. My father was a doctor and he ate crap whilst working long hours as a gynaecologist followed by over 2 decades as a GP. The lack of exercise and poor diet means he's now a vegetable pretty much. Still alive because of big pharma, but not exactly living. Its almost like the marriage between big pharma and the food corps has created this tsunami. I'd personally rather die at 50 from a heart attack than be sustained by the unfruitful union of agriculture and medicine depriving people of any decent quality of life.

From losing their pureblood status.

Food too. Everything was organic pre 1960s. Now, nearly nothing is.

One culprit could be that wheat was hybridized in the 1990s creating a much bigger crop but with a changed profile that causes a glucose spike bigger than refined sugar. Just when wholewheat products were promoted as healthy. That's quite apart from the ultra processed food factor and environmental / life stress factors which you need to be healthy to survive. Once you're on pharmaceuticals your prospects go down as well as many are not beneficial. Not to mention the damage done by recent measures to scare the hell out of people to submit to emergency preventative measures that's now a regular risk to health. The list goes on and on unfortunately. It's in our hands though, at the moment.

Hello Richard. Are you able to offer an explanation on the IFS statement that the Chancellor will need to find new money. I'm very confused by their statement.