I have long been intrigued by the differential life expectancy between English women and our near neighbours – the French. Since 1945 there has been a consistent 2 year gap between French and English female life expectancy at birth and as life expectancies in both countries have risen, so the gap has been maintained. I could understand a longevity difference between the English and the other long lived female population –the Japanese. We live in different parts of the world, eat different types of food and - at least with older cohorts - have differing cultural experiences. But the French? With just a simple strip of sea between us - surely we are very similar in terms of geographical location, and thus genetic makeup, and our European style of eating, drinking and behaviour cannot be that different? What do French women do which makes them achieve on average two more years of life?
So it was rewarding to discuss this observation with Jean-Marie Robine at the recent symposium on Longevity held at the Ecole de Medicine in Paris. The conference, which explored from a multidisciplinary and international perspective the multiple challenges posed by the revolution in longevity, was arranged by Anne-Marie Guillemard and Sophie Moulias. The organisers had successfully brought together academics from demography, economics, political science, sociology and medicine to consider this question. After a stimulating discussion on whether we are seeing the Fries curve among very old populations – this is the idea that there is a compression of mortality after 100 so that the increasing number of centenarians does not lead to increasing numbers of super-centenarians, Robine then presented data from both Japan and Denmark showing that levels of very late life mortality are also declining allowing an increasing number of centenarians surviving into ages post 110.
Jean-Marie and I then discussed over coffee and croissants (this was Paris) the French-English question. Jean-Marie pointed to evidence that the geographical division is not the Channel – but lies between north and central-south France. Northern French women have the same LE as the English, some 2 years less that their southern neighbours. His informal explanation is that the Mediterranean diet may or may not be healthy – but it replaces a far poorer northern diet. Red wine rather than beer; tomatoes and olive oil, rather than fried potatoes – seem to provide the dividing line.
My own presentation on inequalities in both LE and HLE – based both on European comparisons and on our work here on regional differences in the UK – also highlighted another interesting trend: while the Japanese slightly out do the French in terms of LE at birth, in old age French women have longer LE – especially from age 80.
Red wine versus rice? Cream versus soy? The Symposium certainly reminded us all of the huge gaps in both evidence and knowledge in the area of longevity research.
Colloque International pluridisciplinaire sur la longévité
Longévité: Quels défis mondiaux pourle 21ème siècle? 13-14 octobre 2015 Université Paris Descartes
PPT Slides from Harper, 2015 Longevity, life expectancy and healthy life expectancy: translating evidence into policy.
About the Author:
Sarah Harper is Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford, Director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing and Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College.
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