Mormon men live 10 years longer than other U.S. white males.
Mormon women live more than five years longer than other U.S. white females.
Those are the among the results of a 25-year study into the health habits and longevity of the Mormon lifestyle by non-Mormon UCLA professors James E. Enstrom and Lester Breslow.
"Several healthy characteristics of the Mormon lifestyle are associated with substantially reduced death rates and increased life expectancy," their research concludes.
The study, conducted from 1980 to 2004, includes information from questionnaire responses by more than 9,800 faithful Mormon couples. It concludes that practicing Mormons in California had the lowest total death rates and the longest life expectancies ever documented in a well-defined U.S. cohort. The findings suggest a model for substantial disease prevention in the general population, the authors conclude.
Mormons live by a health code called the Word of Wisdom, abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, tea and coffee.
The study revealed Mormon males had a life expectancy of 84.1 years — 9.8 years longer than typical U.S. white males. Mormon females had a life expectancy of 86.1 years — 5.6 years longer than typical U.S. white females.
In a telephone interview, Enstrom accounted for the difference in the comparison of women and men to women generally living substantially longer because of fewer risk factors in their occupations and lives.
The more strictly and constantly Mormons follow Mormon lifestyle elements, the longer they live, the study finds.
Other interesting findings include:
Religiously active LDS men, i.e. high priests, have 40 percent less chance, on average over the years, of dying early than typical white American men.
Active Mormon women have 27 percent less chance, on average over the years, of dying early than white typical American women.
Mormon men who never smoked, attend church at least weekly, obtained at least 12 years of education and are married have a 50 percent less chance, on average over the years, of dying early than their national counterparts. Mormon women who do the same things have a 34 percent less chance, on average over the years, of dying early than their counterparts. These are called optimal Mormon groups in the study.
The probability of death is lowered to 52 percent for Mormon men and 40 percent for Mormon women who consistently live the Word of Wisdom, based on the measurement of moderate body mass index.
For those who get regular physical activity and seven to eight hours of sleep per night, the probability of early death is 56 percent less for Mormon men and 43 percent less for Mormon women than their counterparts.
The results of Enstrom and Breslow's study were published in Preventive Medicine in 2008. Since the study was published, Enstrom has not seen anything to contradict his conclusions.
"Active California Mormons practice a healthy lifestyle advocated by their religion, which emphasizes a strong family life, education and abstention from tobacco and alcohol," Enstrom said.
The low mortality findings are consistent with earlier studies that found low rates of cancer in Mormons.
Mark W. Cannon has a doctorate in political economy and government from Harvard University. Danielle Stockton was co-editor of the student newspaper and the literary magazine at Madeira School.