In 1882 a small band of Italians immigrated to the USA and settled in Pennsylvania.  They were looked down on by the English and Welsh immigrants who lived in the area and who used them as cheap labour in their slate quarries.  In consequence they formed a tight knit community continuing their Italian traditions and building their own town of Roseto.

The town of Roseto became of general interest in the 1960's when it was discovered that the inhabitants had the lowest CHD death rate in the country, less than half that of the surrounding area and the USA in general.  Stewart Wolfe, vice president for medical affairs at St Lukes Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was sent to investigate.

He found that there was an incredibly low incidence of the most common medical disorders of the western world.  Only one in 1,000 Rosetan men died of heart attacks (compared to the USA national average at that time of 3.5 per thousand.)  The female rate was even lower - 0.6 per 1,000 women (compared to 2.09 for the USA). They also experienced lower levels of peptic ulcers and senility amongst other problems. 

The inhabitants tended to be overweight.  They also ate levels of animal fats, had serum cholesterol levels, hypertension and diabetes comparable with neighbouring towns where the heart disease death rate was much higher.  They smoked, drank alcohol and got very little exercise other than their work, again comparable to the local area.  Yet their overall physical health and longevity was better.

It must be the Mediterranean diet they brought with them, it was thought.  But the investigators found they didn't cook everything in olive oil.  In fact much of the cooking was done in lard!

Ok, so it must be genetic.  But when individuals from the community moved away from the area and settled elsewhere they derived the same death and illness rates as the rest of the USA, so that wasn't the answer either.

Stewart Wolfe came to the conclusion that the reason for their low CHD death rate was the community itself. 

The study showed that Roseto's culture "reflected tenaciously held old-world values and customs.  We found that family relationships were extremely close and mutually supportive.  The cohesive quality extended to neighbours and to the community as a whole."

For the first half of the 20^th century they were poor - so being poor, of itself, cannot be a precursor to higher rates of CHD and other illnesses. 

They lived with up to three families sharing the same house and had no choice but to get on with each other.  They attended church on a regular basis and would sit down together for family meals which incorporated tradition and ritual.

Because of the way the outside community treated them they would look after each other and help each other practically and financially if there were problems.  In fact the reasons for their good health and longevity appeared to be: togetherness, caring for and helping each other, ritual and tradition.

However, as time went on the community began to change.  Many of them felt that they could improve on their good health and longevity so they began to cut out alcohol, exercise more and reduce saturated fat consumption. 

At the same time the youngsters in the community tended to move away or demanded more freedom, and less tradition and ritual, resulting in far less togetherness than was previously the case.  These younger members of the community wanted to run their own lives without interference from those around them. 

Wolf noted that the young adults in Roseto "joined country clubs in nearby Poconos; they bought Cadillacs; replaced old, tradition-rich wooden houses with sprawling suburban ranch-style structures; they began attending outside churches or no church at all."  In short they accelerated towards the "American dream."

The result was that by 1985 the community had the same CHD death rate as the rest of the USA.  Researchers concluded that the breakdown of families, community purpose and camaraderie was to blame for the increased number of heart attacks.

We now know, from research done at Harvard and elsewhere that togetherness, ritual, tradition and caring for each other are key factors in maintaining good health and a long life.  These it has been found are far more important than diet and exercise.

During the past 30 years, especially during the Thatcher era, the emphasis in this country, in my opinion, has been on "every man/woman for themselves".  Don't care about others, just get what you can out of life and "enjoy" it to the full.  Yes we give to "Children in Need" but we don't have to get involved do we?

If you're not enjoying life - and this concept usually means going to non stop parties/raves, buying expensive consumer items, and always being on the look out for that perfect partner - then there must be something wrong with you and you need to "get a life". 

To look and feel good the "in" crowd will tell us that we must diet, eat only "rabbit food" (resulting in the fashionable "anorexic look"), and exercise, not in the fresh air, but at the gym.  And what about that perfect partner?  We are led to believe that they must fulfil our every dream without us having to communicate and negotiate with them.  They should know what we want and behave the way we want them to. If they are even a tiny bit less than perfect at this then we must immediately drop them and start looking for another.  After all the world is there to make us feel pleasured isn't it?

Could it be that this modern, warped, self-indulgent hedonistic attitude will not lead to a long healthy life?  Could it be that we need to care more about each other, communicate, confide, help and be helped?

Many of my younger students have told me that the idea of sitting down to ritualistic meals with their relatives and friends, of confiding their problems to others and asking for help, fills them with horror.  Many had no understanding of the concept of helping each other and certainly hadn't experienced being helped.  They didn't in any case belong to a network where it could take place, something my older students find hard to believe.

We are told that longevity is increasing and that there will eventually be an increasing percentage of elderly in the community.  I believe that the supposed increase in longevity is actually a function of those in retirement who went through the war years.  As they leave us and cross over I think we will find that the younger generations will have a far greater incidence of heart disease and other illnesses and will die far younger inspite of all our technology. Only time will tell.

I will continue this discussion next time with a look at the war years and a sense of belonging in general.  In the meantime look at the "Out and About" page for more useful thoughts.

If you would like references and further reading E-mail me or ring for a chat.

01934 876181     

Best wishes,

Derek.