So Big and Healthy Grandpa Wouldn’t Even Know You - New York Times

[Guest guest]

This is an intriguing article that really calls into question many

assumptions of natural medicine. Many of us were indoctrinated with

the idea that we moderns are now a sickly people descended from once

robust stock. The reason - our devitalized food and synthetic drugs.

However, the actual evidence seems to show the reverse. Note this

link is long and may easily break went sent via email. If it doesn't

work, cut and paste it into your browser and make sure there are no

spaces between characters and that it end with the letters rss

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/health/30age.html?

ex=1311912000 & en=eea0947518448481 & ei=5088 & partner=rssnyt & emc=rss

 

 

 

 

Chinese Herbs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I've done a lot of work on the genealogy of my family, with a particular

interest in medical genealogy. The New York Times article concentrates

on the history of one family. Here's a few examples of other people and

a short discussion of the problems I have with the NYT article:

 

My family:

great-grandmother who died at 97 (1973) of natural causes. She bore 15

children of which 13 survived to adulthood. She died with all her

original adult teeth despite making and eating peanut brittle every day

for many decades. This woman's ancestors were of small stature, but

quite robust evidenced by their lifespans and their work on farms.

2nd great grandfather - 6 foot, 5 inches tall and robust. born 1824,

died 1905. worked as farmer in hot and wet climate entire life. death

described as sudden heart ailment.

4th great grandfather - b. 1750, d. 1853. Revolutionary War veteran.

worked as farmer till his early 90's, when he sat down and wrote out his

war experiences. Death described as natural.

 

I can extend this to many more people, but of over 1600 people in my

family that I've researched, the average lifespan is over 70 years, even

though that statistic is dragged down by early mortality rate of

children. Of other families I've researched, I've found the same kinds

of people many times over, with a few here-and-there with bad health

through their lives. I can see that someone can pick-and-choose with

their study subjects, but I'm having a hard time seeing the correlations

to which the writer refers. Also, among rural subjects of genealogy

research, I've seen many references to the people being taught the use

of wild herbs through their family lines. I have a friend whose mother

still sings songs about herbs that she learned from her mother 70 years

ago. This family is also known for general robust health.

I think the writer limited the scope of their article to fit the

premise. Also, many Civil War veterans were debilitated by infectious

diseases, parasites, injuries, etc. If you study Civil War veterans it's

easy to show the kinds of stories in the article. I think that if the

doctors involved did the research to look at more individuals in the

general population they would get significantly different results.

 

Steve Edwards

 

wrote:

 

>

> This is an intriguing article that really calls into question many

> assumptions of natural medicine. Many of us were indoctrinated with

> the idea that we moderns are now a sickly people descended from once

> robust stock. The reason - our devitalized food and synthetic drugs.

> However, the actual evidence seems to show the reverse. Note this

> link is long and may easily break went sent via email. If it doesn't

> work, cut and paste it into your browser and make sure there are no

> spaces between characters and that it end with the letters rss

>

> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/health/30age.html?

> <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/health/30age.html?>

> ex=1311912000 & en=eea0947518448481 & ei=5088 & partner=rssnyt & emc=rss

>

>

> Chinese Herbs

> <http://www..org>

>

>