this might also signal risk factors related to lifestyle that could be more prevalent for men alcohol and tobacco consumption are each indeed high in oecd comparison while fruit and vegetable consumption is low oecd la it is important to note as shown by oecd a that there is no tradeoff between improving health outcomes on average and reducing inequalities in health status which reinforces the justification for aiming at reducing such dispersion grimm even provides evidence that controlling for the overall level of life expectancy health inequality negatively affects economic growth