On Thursday, July 22, 2004, at 06:48 AM, Eva Hedin wrote:

> And what do US people eat or do to kick the bucket at only 77?
> Is it only the diet or...?

A lot of variables, but the US figures are driven down by a large
variation in longevity among the races. Swedes in the US live as long
in the US as Swedes in Sweden, for example. Japanese in the US live as
long as Japanese in Japan, maybe longer. I don't think this is genetic.
It seems related to the cultural values and habits people brought with
them when the immigrated, but I don't claim to know which variables are
the most important. Education is one of the big ones.