Todd Moody wrote:
> Not only would they be less sick than others, but they would tend
> to live longer.  Long-lived people provide much that is of value
> to their kin, and thus to their gene pool.  There *is* selection
> pressure in favor of longevity beyond prime childbearing age.

This is basically what I was curious about.

> In a world in which
> infant and childhood mortality rates are high, the family that
> has healthy grandparents and even great grandparents to help with
> the child rearing and other tasks has a distinct advantage over
> the family in which the adults succumb at a young age to
> diet-related disorders, hence the intensity of the selction
> pressure.

Geez, I guess that's plausible, but it seems pretty damn hard to
quantify how significant the advantage is. I mean, couldn't you
just as easily argue that families with a lot of grandparents
kicking around have to devote precious time, energy, and
resources to their care? Maybe there's some advantage to not
being burdened with the elderly. Who can quantify these
advantages and weigh them against each other?

Toby