Comment on when hell freezes
flora_explora@beehaw.org 1 day agoWell, modern medicine builds on top of natural remedies, but it has standardized it and brought it to a whole new level. People get incredibly old and survive many diseases thought of as incurable a hundred years ago because of modern medicine. Just looking at the similar ingredients in some medicine and nature is not helpful but naive.
Zerush@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
It’s not about that plant extract are not effective, the only drawback to use medicine with plants is the dosage which may be very variable, depending on the harvest time. But this is mostly only relevant in very toxic substances. That people live longer as in the past is a myth, because it always depended on the life standart of the person. In feudal times the normal people with a bad alimentation and hard work in dangerous times, naturally didn’t get old. But between the elite ages over 80 years are not so strange. Other influence are also the high quote of the death of newborns, also the advances in the medical treatments are important, less the medicines used. Even today eg.miners in coal mines often do not even reach retirement age, also those who live a life of stress and worries, with poor quality food, can have a heart attack at 40. Allergies, diabetes, circulatory problems, morbid obesity, some cancer, are mostly caused by the excess of additives in food, observed especially in the USA, where it is very common for the industry to disguise poor quality and contents with additives and chemicals that are banned in most other countries.
flora_explora@beehaw.org 13 hours ago
What you said about the nobility in medieval times interested me, so I looked into it:
In this paper they’ve looked at over 130,000 people in the European nobility between 800-1800 and found that there was an upwards trend in lifespan from around 50 to 60 years excluding violent deaths. So no, I don’t believe many people got 80 years old back then even though they had the best care of that time.
And what you say about our modern world regarding cancer rates etc is simply not something we’ve conclusively solved yet.
Zerush@lemmy.ml 12 hours ago
don’t confuse the lifespan of humans with the average life expsncy, it’s not the same. Last depends of the amount of death of newborns and the general lifestyle, which lower the result. It has nothing to do with the age that homo sapiens can reach, which has always been the same. Naturally, the advance of medical treatments influences, but not so much as the lifestyle in general, as shown by people in villages close to 100 years old, who have never seen a doctor in their lives. Ramses II reign over 60 years, he died at an age of 90.
flora_explora@beehaw.org 10 hours ago
Yes, that’s why I said lifespan. That’s what the cited paper is about and it even goes to great lengths to exclude deaths by battles etc. But well, you seem to have made up your mind and not being open to expand your perspective. Annoying, but ultimately your problem. For me this discussion is over, bye.