Rav Chaim Kanievsky explains why Sefardim are healthier than Ashkenazim

Are Sefardim healthier than Ashkenazim? Do they have less serious health problems?

I have no idea if any scientific study has ever been done on this topic, but I would be curious to see the results of such a study.

Rav Chaim Kanievsky sees, on a daily basis, masses of amounts of people - tens, hundreds, thousands, who come to ask for advice, get a bracha, discuss medical issues, etc. According to Kikar, Rav Chaim Kanievsky recently mused that from what he seems to have noticed, from all the people he sees he has noticed that while everyone has problems and concerns, it seems that the Sefardim have less health issues and less of the serious problems that Ashkenazim suffer from. Rav Chaim Kanievsky confirmed that they do have problems and concerns, but generally they are more to the tune of getting a child into a certain school or other issues like that - but not the really serious issues.

Rav Kanievsky pointed out that the reason this might be so is because the Sefardim say SHir Hashirim on a weekly basis, every Friday night, while the Ashkenazim do not.

Rav Kanievsky's musings do not make a scientific study, and it is possible he is not aware of it because maybe the Sefardim with those more serious issues go to Sefardic rabbonim instead of to him with those issues. It is an interesting question though, and I would wonder what other sociological influences might affect such a thing, if it were true at all.

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