Research that compared the eating and living habits of American and Canadian citizens shows that the Canadians come out tops when levels of obesity are considered. The Canadians also have lower rates of diabetes, excess blood pressure, hypertension, lung disease and arthiritis compared to the Americans. Canadian people were also shown to have higher levels of physical activity than Americans. Interestingly however the research noted that the Canadian people smoke more than the American people but they still are overall more healthy.

The research program which was carried out by a professor from Harvard Medical School interviewed nearly 5,200 Americans and over 3,500 Canadians of both genders and of many different ages. The study also looked at the amount of money that goes to health care in each country and the results show that America pays out nearly double per citizen compared to what Canada spends. The results show that spendng more money on health care doesn't always lead to a higher levels of healthiness in the nation.

America has a chronic obesity problem and some States have to pay out a fortune in health care bills each year. Obesity is linked to higher rates of hundreds of illnesses and finally law makers are realising the cost of ignoring the obesity problem in America. Despite having the best modern advances in medicine and excellent doctors and hospitals America is not a healthy nation. People are calling for more money to be spent advertising healthy living and giving incentives to people to lose weight. Spending money on getting people to lose weight before they become ill would be an investment in the nation and in its people and would pay dividends financially in the future.