It was no myth. Violent death was common for thousands of years, plagues and poor sanitation took their tolls, famines, natural catastrophes, harsh winters, predators all took people down. The potential for a long life was little different, but a relative rarity. Drug companies did not create those perils. Poor people had many children not because of lack of birth control, but because many died before they could reproduce. Men married, women died in childbirth, men married again. Rinse and repeat. My grandmother birthed 19 children that survived to adulthood, not unusual for the women who came from where she did. She survived to keep reproducing because of better health care, advanced medical science, knowledge of germ theory, penicillin and so forth. Yup, she was inoculated for small pox, diphtheria and tb when she arrived here.
Today more young people are being diagnosed, because they are being found thanks to medical science. More than a third of Americans are diabetic and don't know it. This is a constant through much of the world. Even among the poorest and wealthiest populations.
Quality of life is the most important reason for healthy lifestyles. Unfortunately, such is often the provenance of the wealthy. Cassava is the third most consumed food in the world, because it is a cheap source of calories, empty calories. Wheat and rice are the most consumed, for the same basic reason. Please pass me the government cheese. Now give us some more canards. The entertainment value is inestimable.
