THE CHINESE-AMERICAN LONGEVITY STUDY





R. Martin*, R. Schnoll, A. Pruchnicki, R. Rambadt

MMT Corp., Sherman, CT 06784. Dept. of Health and Nutrition Sciences, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY 11210. Dept. of Geriatrics, Mount Sinai Medical Center, NY, NY 10029. Hsu's Root-to-Health Ginseng Enterprises, Inc., Wasau, WI 54402.



By many different measures, Chinese-Americans are the healthiest Americans. Compared to other ethnic groups in the US, they have the fewest hospital stays, lowest number of bed-disability days, fewest visits to the doctor, and also the fewest work-loss and school-loss days, according to CDC data(www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad298.pdf). Major diseases occur much less frequently among Chinese-Americans, and life expectancy appears to be higher than any other US group, for both men and women (www.4woman.gov/owh/pub/woc/figure1.htm). Unfortunately little exact information about Chinese-American health strategies is available. Phase I of the Chinese-American Longevity Study was designed to gather initial data on Chinese-American health strategies and thereby provide a basis for precisely targeted,placebo-controlled follow-up studies. Methods: Chinese-Americans were invited to describe their health strategies on a web site linked to Hsu's Root-to-Health Ginseng Enterprises (www.hrth.com). A free gift with next purchase, valued at $5, was offered as incentive to complete the survey. Questions were carefully arranged in an ordered series of web pages so that responses to the earliest questions could not be influenced by items discussed in subsequent questions. Respondents were invited to send the survey site to older Chinese-American acquaintances. The survey was posted from February to August, 2001. Results: 1) Responses were received from 130 individuals between the ages of 30 and 70. 2) A variety of statistically significant relationships were identified. (i) Self-reported health was higher for participants who consumed more fruits and vegetables (two-tailed t-test p = 0.025). (ii) More educated participants smoked less (p = 0.003)and (iii) had higher health ratings (p = 0.001). (iv) Smokers reported that they felt older compared to nonsmokers (p = 0.002). (v) High income participants felt younger than low-income participants (p = 0.025). (vi) Older participants gave themselves lower health ratings (p = 0.001) and (vii) reported they were less peaceful (p = 0.01). (viii) People with more education were less often "down-hearted" (p = 0.002) and (ix) had better sleep quality (p = 0.001). The most frequent health strategies listed by survey respondents were exercise and consumption of vegetables and fruit. Among survey respondents, both of these health strategies were in fact associated with significantly better self-reported health. Fruits and vegetables mentioned most frequently by respondents were ginseng, tea, berries and spinach. Women in the survey consumed 27% more fruits and vegetables than the men (p = 0.001). Chinese-American women outlive Chinese-American men by 6.3 years, so gender may be an important confounding factor. Energy level appears to be a critical factor for a variety of health-related parameters. Respondents with higher energy levels also are more peaceful, sleep more soundly, have greater sex drive, are "down hearted" less often, get fewer colds and have shorter colds.




Key words: Chinese-American, health, longevity, Chinese







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