Question

Besides diet and exercise, why do social status (educational level) and environmental factors in modern society have a great influence on healthy aging?

Answer 1

In addition to diet and exercise, health is affected by genetics, the environment , life cycle and life style. These factors are referred to as determinatnts of health and they all interact with each other.

For example: family income influences the food choices available and the quantity and quality of food that can be purchased, which of course affects nutrition and healthy aging. Except for nutrition and lifestyle, these factors can be difficult or impossible to change.

ENVIRONMENT

Environment has a large influence on the health, genetics, lifecycle, and lifestyle. Scientists say that the majority of the expressed traits are a product of the genes and environment, of which nutrition is a component.

An example of this interaction can be observed in people who have the rare genetic disorder, phenylketonuria. The clinical signs of PKU are mental retardation, brain damage and seizures and are caused by the build up of the amino acid phenylalanine and its metabolites in the body.

The high level of phenylalanine in a person who has PKU is the result of a change in the gene that encodes for an enzyme that converts phenylalanine into the aminoacid tyrosine. The genetic change called a mutation,causes the enzyme to not function properly.

In this country, and many others all newborn babies are screened for PKU inorder to diagnose and treat the disease before the development of mental retardation and brain damage

SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS

Multiple aspects of a person's environment can affect nutrition, which in turn affects health.

One of the best environmental predictors of a population health is socioeconomic status.

Socioeconomic status is a measurement made up of three variables, income, occupation, and education.

Socio economic status affects nutrition by influencing what foods you can afford and consequently, food choice and food quality. It also affects the healthy aging

Nutrition and health are generally better in populations that have higher incomes, better jobs and more education.

On the other hand, the burden of disease is highest in the most disadvantaged populations.