I have great respect for people like Charlotte Schoenborn, a 20 year Health statistician veteran who headed up this government report. When reading it, I felt like I was looking at the chart at left, it's cool, and straightforward, but didn't mean anything to me. That's why we need people like Charlotte to dig through the data and turn it into this user friendly report released yesterday from the National Center for Health Statistics. This dumbed down "E-Z report" knocked out the following bullets:

• Married adults are less likely than other adults to be in fair or poor health, and are less likely to suffer from health conditions such as headaches and serious psychological distress.

• Married adults are less likely be limited in various activities, including work and other activities of daily living.

• Married adults are less likely to smoke, drink heavily or be physically inactive. However, married men are more likely to be overweight or obese than other men.

• Adults who live in cohabiting relationships are more likely to have health problems than married adults and more closely resemble divorced and separated adults.

• The association between marital status and health is most striking in the youngest age group although it persists throughout the age groups studied.

This morning I asked Charlotte the loaded question, "Why are married men were more likely to be overweight than "other men?". She wasn't allowed to give out her opinion and wanted to leave it to "us" to come up with any speculation. So I offered her just that, "Could it be that the married man tends to be around the house more, and has more time around the frig?" She paused a bit, then, commented, "Could be... a stable environment could mean a stable food supply".

Don't think I could have worded it any better...