VitaMins: A tale of two Springfields
18 October 2019
Springfield, Virginia and Springfield, Missouri share the same name, but they don’t share much else. In this edition of VitaMins, we explore the differences using Club Vita's US longevity map.
VitaMins Health: Getting clued up on flu
3 October 2019
Every year significantly more people die during the winter months than at other times of the year, and recently we have seen huge variability in ‘excess winter deaths’, potentially impacted by the severity of the flu. In this issue of VitaMins Health, we explore the subject of flu.
Zooming in on ZIP codes
7 August 2019
How long retirees live is a key assumption when valuing pension promises. There is ever stronger evidence of variation in lifespan across US society. Given that differences in life expectancy are recognized to be largely driven by lifestyle rather than genetic make-up, how can plan sponsors tailor their longevity assumptions to reflect the characteristics of their participants?
VitaMins Health: Sleep - Putting a number on slumber
17 June 2019
Health behaviors and levels of morbidity are key drivers for future mortality rates and can be thought of as key components of the “longevity pipeline”. The levels of health and morbidity in a population today will be stored up and reflected in how long people live in the future. In this edition of VitaMins Health we explore the subject of sleep.
Vitamins Health: Genetic testing – panacea or dystopia?
15 March 2019
Health behaviours and levels of morbidity are key drivers for future mortality rates and can be thought of as key components of the “longevity pipeline”. The levels of health and morbidity in a population today will be stored up and reflected in how long people live in the future. In this edition of VitaMins Health we explore the subject of genetic testing.
VitaMins: Gaming the longevity lottery - the search for the causes of longevity variations
22 May 2017
Two recent pieces of research really move on our understanding, taking the lengthy investigation in an unexpected direction. Since the 1960s, public health research has suggested that differences in lifestyles (smoking, drinking, diet and exercise) explain much of the variation in postcode longevity. Of course, these statistics are merely saying that the habits of people living in certain areas are associated with low or high life expectancy, and don’t prove beyond reasonable doubt that the habits are necessarily causing the variation in life expectancy.