Why are people living longer despite diet?

Paradox on Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:03 pm

Someone posed this question to me and I didn't have the answer. They asked me if people were eating more unhealthy than ever and 'modern' medicine was so bad for health, why do people live so much longer today than they did years ago?

Anybody?

CausticSymmetry on Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:15 pm

Paradox - The primary reason is knowledge of sanitation.

There was a time during the industrial revolution where we lived in cities, but we had piles of horse excrement
and such, and we had little idea that healthy sanitary practices were important to one's health.

These days a lot of us are "germ-o-phobes," probably to unnecessary extreme.

If we go back a little further in time, then a lack of emergency rooms, could have accounted for more permanent injuries with respect to slips, falls, animal wounds and so forth.

I wouldn't be so surprised if we took a poll and asked how many lives were saved just on having some sort of emergency surgery, that probably was not available hundreds of years ago.

Paradox on Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:24 pm

Thanks CS, I knew that sanitation played a role but wasn't sure how much. Isn't it ironic that we now how these life saving surgeries for heart problems for example...and yet we have an increased need for them because people eat worse? I mean Dick Cheney and Bill Clinton in the news getting heart surgeries like they are routine oil changes on their cars. I bet many people say that and think they can eat/do whatever they want because there is always emergency surgery. That's a pretty morbid and depressing way to live. I mentioned to this person i was talking with that although quantity of life may have increased significantly, quality has all but certainly declined significantly.

CausticSymmetry on Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:54 pm

Paradox - I should point out that most heart surgeries are unnecessary 90% of them, including the kind that Clinton & Cheney received. Heart bypass, is not necessary in at least 90% of cases, including stents, 100% of all angioplasties, cardiac ablations, etc.

Nutrients can be used to prevent the 'need' for implantable defibrillators, and many, many other preventable procedures.

The surgeries I meant were the real emergency type such as trauma where there's lots of blood loss, or appendectomies,
emergency splenectomy, and so fourth.

kijumn on Fri Mar 12, 2010 11:27 pm

My bet is that right now we are the equivalent of the 2nd generation cats that I put in bold.

The Pottinger cats study lasted for ten years, with three generations of cats being studied. Approximately 900 cats were involved. Dr. Francis Pottinger took 2 sets of cats and fed them only raw milk and raw meat. He took 3 more sets of cats and fed them cooked meat and pasteurized milk. This study was specifically designed to show the difference between eating raw foods versus cooked and processed foods over a long period of time. The cats eating the raw food were disease free and healthy generation after generation after generation. But, the cats eating the cooked and processed foods weren’t so fortunate. By the end of the 1st generation the cats started to develop degenerative diseases and became quite lazy. By the end of the 2nd generation the cats had developed degenerative diseases by mid-life and started losing their coordination. By the end of the 3rd generation the cats eating the cooked foods had developed degenerative diseases very early in life and some were born blind and weak and had a much shorter life span. Many of the third generation cats couldn’t even produce offspring. The cat study gives us a little understanding as too why children today are getting degenerative diseases that used to only show up in humans at an age of 50 years or older.

johnt on Sat Mar 13, 2010 1:07 am

I recall reading somewhere a long while back that the concept of people living longer now than in the past is way overstated. The reality is that the infant mortality rate, as well as deaths due to wars, etc has greatly decreased and therefore the "average life span" has increased significantly. Also, the idea that people didn't live into old age hundreds of years ago is a huge misconception -- look at history, there are numerous individuals that lived long lives and it was not because they had super health or were any different from their peers. I wish I could find the article now because it was well researched. As has been pointed out above, sanitation and emergency room procedures have helped significantly as well.

Paradox on Sat Mar 13, 2010 1:12 am

johnt,

That would be a great article to have if you could find it. It's true that numbers can be manipulated or interpreted to justify different conclusions. Unfortunately that cuts both ways.

kijumn on Sat Mar 13, 2010 2:04 am

Hey Paradox,

From my previous research about this question johnt and CausticSymmetry are right.

In short, we've traded dying earlier from work related accidents, pneumonia, contagious diseases, etc. for living longer but in a chronic state of health problems.

johnt on Sat Mar 13, 2010 2:20 am

I'll definitely take a look around, at least for something similar and post it if I find it, but this was from at least 10 years ago that I'm recollecting.

Directo on Sat Mar 13, 2010 5:45 am

On the same idea but another subject, why women do not lose their hair like men if their diet do not really differ? I mean we all eat the same way (men and women) and men are way much more touched by baldness than women. I know there is the hormone story, but does it explain all?

CausticSymmetry on Sat Mar 13, 2010 8:15 pm

Directo - For the most part it does (hormones). Women who have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), have a balding pattern more similar to a man's, as they have very high testosterone levels. In normal women, they have higher levels of estrogen than a man, protecting against a dht mediated hair loss.

Note that women with PCOS can reverse this symptom if they take very high doses of iodine.

In postmenopausal women, hair loss if fairly common as there is a drop in estrogen and progesterone and a sudden increase in iron.

Lw on Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:11 am

the industrial world we know only emerged in the 70's, I mean, industrial standard of production and consuming..
the people who are 80 or 90 nowadays, had already 40 or 50 years old at that time.
the thing we know is, theres an exponential progression of all kind of critic degenerative diseases like sclerosis, cancer, alzheimer.. or even typical civilisations diseases like diabete and candidosis.. the rates are just exploding.
some cancer are up to 500% in 25 years.
today you can find 30 years old people suffering from alzheimer, that's insane.
I personally had diabete at 18 years old, because my parents had a bakery and I always took everything in want (and never drink water untill my 23 birthday).
I cured my diabete simply by avoid all poison from my daily diet. this was extremely hard as I had strong addiction caused (aggraved?) by my candida state.
anyway.. I personally believe that the post 2000's childs are gonna live less long than their parents. that's an evidence.

please apologize for grammar.

CausticSymmetry on Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:27 am

lw-4 - That's very interesting, I bet you're right. For example this obesity epidemic is now expanding globally because so many places abroad now are adopting some of the westernized, processed foods.

And since 1976, HFCS was introduced and of course it is in "everything," at least in the United States. If it contains a wrapper or packaging, there's a pretty good chance it's in there.

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