In a message dated 3/19/01 11:08:40 PM Pacific Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<<    I just wasn't in agreement with Charles about medicine being the reason
 for extended life spans if that is what he meant? >>

Yeah  - that is what he meant.  If you study the obits in your newspaper, you
will find a large percentage of people dying in mid-life, generally of heart
attacks. This is the leading cause of premature death in our society. There
is also a bunch of people that do live into their eighties, but few who make
it to the nineties.

Now, of the people who do live a complete lifespan, how many get that far
without being put on medication? A tiny percentage, I'll bet -- 5% maybe?
I'll guarantee they are nearly all on hypertension medication. or some such.

So, almost everybody in our society will be relying on the medical profession
to stay alive at some point in their lives. Those who die early would have
died even earlier, probably, and those that reach a full life would have less
likely to without medical help.

Contrast this with native paleo societies. In my researches, I find plenty of
evidence of extremely long active lives -- my favorite old 89 year old still
hunting rabbits with a bow and arrow. This guy lived to be 100, and there
were plenty of others like him in his tribal group. My point is that without
our level of medical support, our average life expectancy would be lower than
theirs, and I believe the data supports this contention.

And yes, of course native paleo societies have doctors, of many different
types. It's just that they didn't have to treat heart attacks, diabetes or
cancer because those things simply didn't exist.

Charles