Brits healthier than Americans and less likely to be obese, study finds

British adults in their 30s and 40s are healthier than those in the US – but are more likely to think their health is poor, a study has suggested.

The health of the US “acts as a warning” of what Britain could be like without the “safety net” of the NHS, researchers said, with differences potentially down to access to healthcare, diet and levels of poverty.

Researchers from UCL and the University of Oxford compared health data from 9,665 British people born in 1970 and 5,381 US adults.

They found adults in the US were more likely to have high cholesterol and high blood pressure, while 40% US adults were obese compared to 34.5% of Brits.

However, 18% of British adults were likely to report their health as poor compared to 12% of adults in the US.

Britons were also more likely to smoke every day, with 28% reporting cigarette use compared to 21% in the US cohort.

Dr Charis Bridger Staatz, of the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies, said: “Our new research shows that although British adults are more likely to believe that their health is poor, they tend to have better cardiovascular health than their US counterparts in midlife.

“While we were unable to directly investigate the causes of this, we can speculate that differences in levels of exercise, diets and poverty, and limited access to free healthcare may be driving worse physical health in the USA."

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The experts, however, said the findings should not distract from levels of obesity and high blood pressure in Britain.

More than a third of British adults are obese and a fifth have high blood pressure in midlife.

Professor George Ploubidis, from UCL, said: “The new government’s pledges to cut NHS waiting times will be severely tested if this and future generations continue to age in poor health.”

Researchers also found that inequalities were one of the main reasons for the differences in health, as the US typically saw larger health differences between the poorest and wealthiest ends of society.

Dr Bridger Staatz said work to tackle health inequalities in Britain will be beneficial.

“Our findings reinforce previous research showing that health problems and inequalities in older age tend to have their origins earlier in life,” she added.

“Long-term planning and investment in the NHS will likely help improve the health disparities we see in the UK and prevent the emergence of inequalities on the same scale as we see in the US.

"This will not only help to improve population health across life but create a happier and more prosperous society.”

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