At least 80% responsibility for ill health in old age down to individual, study says

Key points

• Individuals bear at least 80% of the responsibility for their ill health in old age, according to a report aimed at challenging the belief that physical decline is either inevitable or primarily the responsibility of the state.
• The report, launched at the Smart Ageing Summit in Oxford last week, argues that individuals have far greater control over their longevity than is commonly understood.
• The authors call on the government to take legislative action on alcohol comparable to restrictions on smoking.
• Living Longer, Better – the Oxford Longevity Project’s first Age-less report – was co-authored by an interdisciplinary panel of UK-based experts in medicine, physiology, ageing and education policy.
• It was by Oxford Healthspan.