I’m just back from my home country, the United States. I always enjoy visiting, but every time I go between the US and my adopted home of Europe, I’m keenly aware of disparity in health: Americans live much shorter lives and spend more of their lifetime in poor health. This is despite Americans earning some of the highest salaries per capita in the world and spending twice as much as comparable countries on healthcare.

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine of 74,000 adults found that even the wealthiest Americans had higher mortality rates than the wealthiest Europeans – and that the richest Americans had mortality rates comparable to the poorest residents of northern and western Europe. Across every wealth category, Americans were more likely to die younger than Europeans, suggesting that even wealth doesn’t insulate from larger factors that impact life expectancy.

That the US has a health problem isn’t controversial. The Make America Healthy Again movement, led by US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, has highlighted soaring rates of obesity, diabetes and chronic disease. The movement’s public face isn’t scientists or doctors, but influencers posting videos from saunas, gyms and parks talking about better choices and individual discipline. Eat more red meat. Do more push-ups. Drink raw milk. Avoid vaccines and boost your natural immunity. Sweat more. This health advice is given, while month by month, public health agencies........

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