> Nobody knows.  Also, "average" age isn't a very useful measure of
> health, because it includes child mortality, accidental deaths,
> warfare, etc.

Hi Juergen;

Actually I was thinking in terms of the diseases of older age that afflict 
us (especially of cancer). I wonder if for the most part cancers would have 
affected the paleolithic if they had actually lived long enough? I suspect, 
like wild animals, they lived, on the average, fairly short lives (maybe 
20-30). So, I wonder how much simple aging is as an important predictor of 
cancer? Food and other factors (genetics, toxicity, etc.) are of course 
too....

Marilyn