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Sarah Berry<\/a>Lifestyle Health Editor<\/p>\nJune 12, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n
June 12, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n We all know someone who has pickled their organs in a brine of alcohol, smoked their lungs black or had a diet like Donald Trump\u2019s and still kicked into their 80s or beyond.<\/p>\n Similarly, many of us know people who make the right choices by their bodies and are still befallen by ill health.<\/p>\n It all raises the question: how much power do we really have over our health as we age?<\/p>\n A group of British academics attempted to answer this question in a report titled Living Longer, Better, published in May.<\/p>\n The report has sensible advice, such as:<\/p>\n It is never too soon (or too late) to start practising responsible self-care.Wellbeing involves managing stress, a positive mindset, exercise, time with loved ones and a whole foods, plant-centric diet.Prevention beats cure.Health is something we co-create every day through thousands of small decisions that compound over time.<\/p>\n It also includes the sweet bedtime routine of one of the report\u2019s authors, Sir Christopher Ball.<\/p>\n As he is falling asleep each night, the former university chancellor does a \u201cgratitude exercise\u201d by making an alphabetical list of things to be thankful for: \u201c\u2018Andrew (my brother), air, avocados; babies, bay trees, broccoli; children, cherries, carrots\u2019 \u2013 until I fall asleep, usually well before \u2018Wendy (my wife), water, weather\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n So why has this report by the Oxford Longevity Project (funded by nutraceutical brand Oxford Healthspan) been called \u201cproblematic\u201d, \u201cwrong\u201d and, according to Associate Professor Phillip Baker, \u201cethically questionable\u201d?<\/p>\n The criticism centres on this claim by Ball: \u201cThe main cause of the diseases of longevity is our own behaviour, our mindset and lifestyle. At least 80 per cent of the responsibility for ill health in old age lies in how we choose to live our lives. Choose wisely!\u201d<\/p>\n In his efforts to live to 111, Ball took up marathon running when he was 67 to combat high blood pressure and then, after a triple bypass at 70, worked on cultivating a positive mindset and switched to a vegan diet. Last year, he ran 10 kilometres to celebrate his 90th birthday.<\/p>\n Editor’s pick It\u2019s inspirational stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cThe emphasis on prevention and healthy longevity is welcome and much needed,\u201d says Associate Professor Susanne R\u00f6hr, of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at UNSW Sydney. \u201cThe report is right to argue that lifestyle and environmental factors play a substantially larger role in determining health and longevity than many people assume.\u201d<\/p>\n By some accounts, about 80 per cent<\/a> of chronic disease and premature death could be prevented by not smoking, being physically active, reducing alcohol intake and adhering to a healthful dietary pattern.<\/p>\n One new study<\/a> of more than 68,000 adults found that compared with people who had the healthiest lifestyles, those with an unhealthy lifestyle had a 54 per cent greater risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) 15 years later. Those with a high genetic risk of CRC who also had an unhealthy lifestyle were 82 per cent more likely to develop it.<\/p>\n Genes matter, but lifestyle matters more<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFor many conditions, genes often contribute no more than 5 to 10 per cent of overall risk,\u201d says Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, director of the Monash Brain Park at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health.<\/p>\n This is good news, right? Our fate is not predestined, and we have choice in our outcomes \u2013 at least, some of us do.<\/p>\n Specifically, those of us lucky enough to live in lovely, safe neighbourhoods where there are parks and fresh air and access to good food. Poorer neighbourhoods have almost 2\u00bd times more fast food outlets<\/a> than wealthier ones; the life expectancy of Australians with the lowest socioeconomic status is up to 25 per cent less<\/a>; and, at present, about 13 per cent of Australians experience food insecurity.<\/p>\n \u201cOur \u2018choices\u2019 are shaped even before we\u2019re born,\u201d Baker says.<\/p>\n Suggesting that our choices exist in a vacuum skips over the reality of many people\u2019s lives, he says. \u201cIt just places the blame (and shame) on disadvantaged individuals rather than structures and systems.\u201d<\/p>\n R\u00f6hr, agrees: \u201cPeople do not make choices from the same starting position. Wealth is not equally distributed across populations, and neither is health.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article This is perhaps why health posturing has become a status symbol: wealth is one of the strongest predictors of longevity<\/a>, and wellness is an expensive, often exclusive, pursuit<\/a>.<\/p>\n We do have choice about our behaviours \u2013 some of us just have more choice than others. Or, as George Orwell put it: \u201cAll animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.\u201d<\/p>\n And this was what the Oxford Longevity Project skimmed over.<\/p>\n \u201cA more balanced and realistic perspective would be to view healthy ageing as a shared responsibility,\u201d R\u00f6hr says. \u201cSocieties, governments and institutions have a responsibility to create the conditions that enable health. Individuals, in turn, have a responsibility to engage with those opportunities, make informed choices where possible, and take an active role in their own wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n Baker has several ideas about how to make this happen and truly empower people take charge of their health, but they would require different choices by the privileged few.<\/p>\n That includes redistributing power, money and resources so that the conditions for good health, such as safe housing, quality education, healthy foods and representation in political decision-making, are available to everyone.<\/p>\n For the rest of us \u2013 those of us who do have a little or a lot of choice \u2013 the report has a useful message, says Stamatakis.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is always something actionable to do to improve their health destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox<\/a> every Monday.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Is](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c7379ed7b3f9025ff28807304310b243408210eb.jpeg\")
Is health as we age as simple as the choices we make? If only.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Tim](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4fbaeafb748c9e091617891e3ad4be15a56a2468.jpeg\")
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Some people have more choice than others.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9e855ca928799ed3e1b2e95a53e8bf3b0bd88208.jpeg\")
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Sarah Berry<\/a> is a lifestyle and health writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opinion Sarah BerryLifestyle Health Editor June 12, 2026 \u2014 5:00am June 12, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[64,63,137,532],"class_list":["post-730835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}