Todd wrote:

>According to what I read, in the USA the mean life expectancy is
>76 and still creeping up, despite our heavy reliance on processed
>foods, hydrogenated oils, and other bad stuff.  Since the 1970s
>heart disease rates have gone down, for reasons that remain
>mysterious, after having peaked in the 1940-60 period.

Heart transplants and angioplasties didn't exist back then. Plus other
intensive intervention techniques. I'm not sure whether you are comparing
heart disease occurrences, or people that die of heart disease. Those are,
of course, easier to count.

Don.