flyfish Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Yep. If you look at graphs of life expectancy over the past hundred year even the introduction of antibiotics caused little more than a blip. Improved nutrition and sanitation have been the main factors. What about immunizations? Edited to say: fantasty got there before me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mitchells Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Food Board restraining orders should have a positive effect on longevity. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melonious Thunk Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Yep. If you look at graphs of life expectancy over the past hundred year even the introduction of antibiotics caused little more than a blip. Improved nutrition and sanitation have been the main factors. What about immunizations? Edited to say: fantasty got there before me. I admitted to having overlooked preventive medicine, which has made a major impact. My comments were or should have related to curative medicine, which has not made so much progress, except for antibiotics. I also grant the value of joint replacement and bypass surgery. But for pure numbers in life extension (which was the original statement I responded to), the big three are improved sanitation, nutrition and immunization. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
g.johnson Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Yep. If you look at graphs of life expectancy over the past hundred year even the introduction of antibiotics caused little more than a blip. Improved nutrition and sanitation have been the main factors. What about immunizations? Edited to say: fantasty got there before me. Life expectancy has been rising steadily for the past hundred years with no apparent sudden jumps. So I doubt that vaccination has had more than a marginal effect. After all, measles, mumps, even polio don't kill many well nourished people. (The exception might be smallpox though even that is fatal in only a minority of healthy people.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ron Johnson Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 High fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated soybean oil: the fountain of youth. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rail Paul Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Yep. If you look at graphs of life expectancy over the past hundred year even the introduction of antibiotics caused little more than a blip. Improved nutrition and sanitation have been the main factors. What about immunizations? Edited to say: fantasty got there before me. Life expectancy has been rising steadily for the past hundred years with no apparent sudden jumps. So I doubt that vaccination has had more than a marginal effect. After all, measles, mumps, even polio don't kill many well nourished people. (The exception might be smallpox though even that is fatal in only a minority of healthy people.) Is that true worldwide? It's my understanding that many more people are dying of diseases like dengue, malaria, ebola, etc in Africa than died of these diseases in the 1960s. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ghostrider Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Yep. If you look at graphs of life expectancy over the past hundred year even the introduction of antibiotics caused little more than a blip. Improved nutrition and sanitation have been the main factors. What about immunizations? Edited to say: fantasty got there before me. Life expectancy has been rising steadily for the past hundred years with no apparent sudden jumps. So I doubt that vaccination has had more than a marginal effect. After all, measles, mumps, even polio don't kill many well nourished people. (The exception might be smallpox though even that is fatal in only a minority of healthy people.) Is that true worldwide? It's my understanding that many more people are dying of diseases like dengue, malaria, ebola, etc in Africa than died of these diseases in the 1960s. Even more of them (in Africa) are dying of simple malnutrition. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melonious Thunk Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Yep. If you look at graphs of life expectancy over the past hundred year even the introduction of antibiotics caused little more than a blip. Improved nutrition and sanitation have been the main factors. What about immunizations? Edited to say: fantasty got there before me. Life expectancy has been rising steadily for the past hundred years with no apparent sudden jumps. So I doubt that vaccination has had more than a marginal effect. After all, measles, mumps, even polio don't kill many well nourished people. (The exception might be smallpox though even that is fatal in only a minority of healthy people.) I expect you are correct, but some people seem not to want to hear about the clay feet of "modern medicine" as it relates to life extension on a mass scale. I imagine anyone who denounced a tribal medicine man was boiled for dinner. Somehow the idea that cleanliness, getting rid of fecal matter safely and better nutrition are responsible for increasing life span is not magical enough. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
g.johnson Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Yep. If you look at graphs of life expectancy over the past hundred year even the introduction of antibiotics caused little more than a blip. Improved nutrition and sanitation have been the main factors. What about immunizations? Edited to say: fantasty got there before me. Life expectancy has been rising steadily for the past hundred years with no apparent sudden jumps. So I doubt that vaccination has had more than a marginal effect. After all, measles, mumps, even polio don't kill many well nourished people. (The exception might be smallpox though even that is fatal in only a minority of healthy people.) Is that true worldwide? It's my understanding that many more people are dying of diseases like dengue, malaria, ebola, etc in Africa than died of these diseases in the 1960s. I meant in the developed world. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Steve R. Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 The importance of hand washing cannot be underestimated. Are you paraphrasing Pilate? No, Hillary. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid1 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 So this is the thread where we rant about doctors? Goody. My doctor couldn't even cure the flu I had the other week. He told me to stay in bed and drink "fluids." I could have thought of that, dumbass! Give me a pill or something! He was right, Seth. Virus-caused illnesses are not curable, only preventable. They go away by themselves or they kill you. Seth, you need to buy a snare drum. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid1 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Having read the last few pages, I am now opposed to extending health care. Seems like an awful waste of money. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rail Paul Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Having read the last few pages, I am now opposed to extending health care. Seems like an awful waste of money. I'm waiting for the first candidate to propose taxing the value of employer health insurance premiums in excess of some modest amount, like they do with employer life insurance. That could fund a lot of the children's medical care initiatives on its own. Needless to say, I'll be waiting a while. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Melonious Thunk Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Having read the last few pages, I am now opposed to extending health care. Seems like an awful waste of money. A very intelligent man who has a very good grasp of economics and statistics made that same statement to me recently. He said he could prove that we would save more money and sacrifice less of our collective health if we had no health care insurance except for catastrophic. Others have made a very strong and credible case that if half the money spent on "health care" went into increasing the incidence and frequency of preventive behavior (moderate exercise, not smoking, sound but not extreme diet, weight control) we would have a huge decrease in illnesses and the costs attendant to them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ron Johnson Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Having read the last few pages, I am now opposed to extending health care. Seems like an awful waste of money. A very intelligent man who has a very good grasp of economics and statistics made that same statement to me recently. He said he could prove that we would save more money and sacrifice less of our collective health if we had no health care insurance except for catastrophic. Others have made a very strong and credible case that if half the money spent on "health care" went into increasing the incidence and frequency of preventive behavior (moderate exercise, not smoking, sound but not extreme diet, weight control) we would have a huge decrease in illnesses and the costs attendant to them. getting rid of insurance creates an economically efficient system. everything costs what it should. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.