Weekly Health Digest: Life Expectancy, Condoms, and Burger Report Cards

Spain to lead Japan in global life expectancy, US continues to slide

Rob Picheta

New research finds that Spain will overtake Japan’s long-held position at the top of the world’s life expectancy table by 2040. People in Spain will live for 85.8 years on average, just marginally better than Japan’s average life expectancy of 85.7 years. Meanwhile, the United States is due to take the biggest drop in the ranking of life expectancy for all high-income countries. The United States is predicted to fall from 43rd in 2016 to 64th by 2040 with an average life expectancy of 79.8 years.

Health Care Tops Guns, Economy As Voters’ Top Issue

Phil Galewitz

Ahead of the midterm elections, health care is the most important issue for voters, one third chose this issue when asked which one issue they found important. However, candidates are not discussing health care much while campaigning. Other top issues were the economy and jobs, gun policy, and immigration.

Self-lubricating condoms might make people actually want to use them

Maggie Fox

Condoms are a cheap and simple way of preventing sexually transmitted diseases and preventing pregnancy, yet people choose not to use them because they are are dry and uncomfortable. Researchers at Boston University have created a self-lubricating condom to combat this common belief. The condom has a compound with a thin layer of water that stays dry until touched by a few drops of liquid. The hope is that their product will attract those individuals who have previously foregone using condoms because of the dryness and uncomfortableness.

Most burger chains fail on annual antibiotics report card

Naomi Thomas

In a collaborative report that evaluated 25 top burger chains on their antibiotic policies, only two chains, Shake Shack and BurgerFi received an A grade. The remaining 23 all received F’s, except Wendy’s who received a D minus. Grades were decided based on three factors: whether the company is making promises to end the routine use of antibiotics, how well the company is implementing their policies, and whether the claims they are making are true. The overuse of antibiotics in livestock production is a major contributor in the spread of antibiotic resistance, according to the WHO.