The great class health divide | Express.co.uk

AS THE nation gears up for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, science is revealing that the young couple have more than their love to celebrate. When it comes to wellbeing,

their comfortable backgrounds mean that William and Kate have been born extremely lucky. As members of the Royal Family they can expect to enjoy long and healthy lives, unlike their

television fictional namesakes the Royle family, whose working-class roots and couch-potato lifestyle could cut short their lives by a decade. The royals are famously long-lived. William’s

great-grandmother, the Queen Mother, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 101 while his grandmother The Queen is 84 and shows no sign of being ready for retirement. The family appears

blessed with good genes and their love of horse riding and other outdoor pursuits provides a health boost but Office for National Statistics figures show that social class counts for a lot

when it comes to health. Their neighbours in upmarket Kensington and Chelsea enjoy the highest life expectancy in the UK. Residents can expect to live to 86.7 years, 10 years more than those

living in Manchester, where the Royle family holds court in front of the telly. Predominantly working-class Glasgow has the lowest life expectancy in the UK, with an average of just 74.3

years. Here we look at some of the ways social class affects our health and what we can do in order to swing the odds in our favour. Prince of hearts It’s a myth that only high-flying

businessmen and bankers chasing bumper bonuses are the most likely to suffer stress-induced heart problems. The lower your position in the employment pecking order, the greater your risk of

heart disease and other problems. A study of 10,308 civil servants aged 35 to 55 found men with chronic work stress had twice the incidence of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors

which increase the chance of cardiac disease and diabetes. While an American study of 17,000 women with stressful jobs found their risk of having a heart attack was 88 per cent higher, they

were 40 per cent more likely to have coronary disease and their odds of needing cardiac surgery were 43 per cent higher than average. It all comes down to your definition of stress. In

medical terms it means having a job with little creative control, few rewards and no power to make decisions. This sort of long-term tension means the body is constantly awash with hormones

such as cortisol and adrenaline which are part of our primitive “fight or flight” response. Short bursts are fine which is why successful entrepreneurs and other deal-makers may have regular

surges of adrenaline but rarely develop stress-induced heart problems. However stress is not the only factor that places people from less-privileged backgrounds at a greater disadvantage

when it comes to heart disease. Researchers at the Institute of Child Health who tracked 9,377 children born in 1958, found children from poorer homes grew up to have higher levels of

obesity, cholesterol problems and hypertension, all key risk factors. The study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, found making improvements to your lot financially

also improved your health but did not wipe out the deficit. Class action: Walk to unwind. The exercise will help burn off stress chemicals and if you maintain a pace which keeps you slightly

out of breath, will provide a cardio workout. A breakfast of wholegrain cereal will help lower cholesterol. Fat chance Being overweight increases the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes

and a host of other health problems and your postcode can predict your chance of being obese. Using data from GP practices, health analysts Dr Foster compiled a fat-map of Britain which

revealed the Shetland Isles, parts of Wales and the North-east have the highest levels of obesity. In the Shetlands, where it’s estimated that one-in-four households lives in poverty, 15.5

per cent of patients were clinically obese, more than three times the number in affluent parts of London and the Home Counties. In what were once the heartlands of mining and heavy industry

in Wales and the North-east, one-in-10 people were classed as dangerously overweight. Studies of child obesity reveal a similar pattern. Girls from working-class backgrounds are

one-and-a-half times more likely to be obese than those from well-off families. Among boys, the gap is 0.6 per cent. Economic divisions are increasing this health divide, according to

researchers at University College London. Their study shows the incidence of child obesity is slowing in well-off areas but in poorer ones it is on track to double. By 2015 they predict 11.2

per cent of girls from lower-class backgrounds will be obese compared to just 5.4 per cent from the families of professionals. Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum says: “It is often quite

expensive and time-consuming to buy healthy food and that puts wealthier parents at an advantage.” Market insight group TNS found only one in every eight of us hits the recommended target

of five servings of fruit and vegetables a day but the more affluent we are, the more we eat. Class action: The secret to long-term weight control is simple: finding the right balance

between calories in and calories burnt. Keep a food diary for a week to identify calories that are easy to cut. Milky coffees, wine and other drinks can pile on the pounds. Mind the age gap

Studies of DNA taken from more than 1,500 volunteers revealed that those who struggle to make ends meet get old before their time. Not having enough money accelerates the ageing process say

researchers, who analysed key pieces of DNA known as telomeres. Telomeres are repeat sequences of genetic code which sit at the ends of chromosomes, protecting our genetic data. As we age

they become shorter, leaving our chromosomes vulnerable to damage and cell death, the triggers for ageing and disease. Lifestyle factors such as obesity, alcohol consumption and smoking are

known to hasten the shortening of these telomeres but even after accounting for these, a study in the journal Aging Cell found that coming from an impoverished background cuts seven years

from your life. To double-check their findings, the researchers looked at telomeres from 17 pairs of identical twins who had taken different paths as adults, with one moving into a different

social class. Then the gap was even bigger, with the telomeres of better-off twins nine years younger on average. Professor Tim Spector who led the study says: “Not only does social class

affect health and age-related disease but it seems to have an impact on the ageing process itself.” He believes money and job worries probably explain the divide. “The strain of being in

that job, the effort-reward imbalance, self-esteem and the psychological stress of having lots of areas you cannot control in your life are perhaps more important than we have realised.”

Class action: You can’t change your DNA but you can reduce damage from smoking, alcohol and poor diet. When life’s a pain Long-term pain can be more difficult to handle if your life is hard

too. An American study looking at the impact of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disease associated with chronic discomfort and disability, found a link between patients’ ability to

cope and their position in life. Depression is common in people with RA, with research showing that anywhere between one in 10 and four in 10 patients with the condition also experience low

moods. However a recent study of more than 800 patients carried out for the American College of Rheumatology found those with the lowest social status were 50 per cent more likely to suffer

a bout of the blues. Dr Mary Margaretten, the University of California researcher who headed the project, says: “For the same level of disability, patients with low socioeconomic status may

be more likely to experience depression.” Class action: St John’s wort is proven effective against mild to moderate depression. Regular exercise can also help beat the blues. Airs and graces

There are reportedly three smokers in the Royal Family: Prince Harry, the Duchess of Cornwall and Princess Eugenie but they are not typical as government statistics reveal the posher you

are, the less likely you are to light up. Only around 15 per cent of senior managers, professionals and others at the top of the social pecking order smoke, compared with around 40 per cent

of unskilled workers on low wages or benefits, such as chain-smoking Royles, Barbara and Denise. Three times as many women in manual jobs or those dependent on benefits, smoke during

pregnancy as those in supervisory or professional roles. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are also slightly more likely to start smoking than their more affluent counterparts but by

the time they are 30 the gap is wider, as those from richer families are twice as likely to have quit. Even if they resist the temptation to start, children from less well-off families are

more likely to suffer health problems such as glue ear as a result of passive smoking. Some researchers have found a link between social class and a higher incidence of asthma. Pollution is

the most likely trigger, with one German study showing that children who grow up in heavily polluted inner-city environments are twice as likely to develop breathing problems as those who

grow up in leafy suburbs with clean air. Class action: Increase your intake of fruit and vegetables, wholegrains and oily fish. Sip codes Britain’s biggest boozers are now middle-class

drinkers who unwind with a bottle or two of wine. A study which analysed figures from every local authority in the country found the worst rates of dangerous drinking, defined as between 22

and 50 units a week for men and 15 to 35 for women, in some of the nation’s most sought-after postcodes. Booze blackspots include the well-off spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire,

Runnymede in Surrey, where a detached family home costs around £750,000 and Guildford and Mole Valley, also in the well-heeled commuter belt of Surrey. However, a recent study in the journal

Alcohol And Alcoholism warned working-class people are more likely to die from cirrhosis of the liver. Researchers suggest this may be because they are more likely to binge drink and down

booze without food, while the well-to-do tend to drink with a meal. Class action: Ask for a small glass when you order a wine or beer and banish big glasses at home.