A new New York City Health Department study reports that an average man in the city should expect to live only 76.3 years, six years less than the average woman. The grim details prove that your angry gym teacher was right and you should have gotten a sex change. Younger men (18 to 34) are more than three times more likely to die in a drug overdose, while older men (35 to 64) are twice as likely to die of heart disease. The gender gap in the city is slightly wider than national averages.
Issues like geography (the rate of heart disease in Williamsburg/Bushwick is ten times higher than in Upper East Side), race (African-Americans are twelve times more likely to die in homicides than whites), and lack of health insurance don’t explain it. But vegetables do, especially if you squint: Only 7 percent of men eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, while a full 11 percent of women do.
The lesson: Be more like a woman and eat carrots.
New Report Details Men’s Health in New York City, Highlights Potential for Improvement [nyc.gov]
