Thousands of years ago, rich people ate what we could consider "healthy" but still didnt live that long?

Question

Those people were only eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Eating meat with out all the sauces and fat, running around getting exercise all day long, and still not living to be 100 years old. They would live to 60, maybe. And now days we have 100 year old people who have eaten tons of fast food, smoked, and never ran a day in their lives. What is up with that.

Answer 1

Consider they didn't have the same health care back then like we do these days. Life wasn't nearly as hygienic either. Some cultures even believed bathing would actually cause disease.

Things we take for granted like modern blumbing, dental and health care, toothbrushes with toothpaste, FDA regulations on food quality and drugs, pasteurization, treating drinking water, waste disposal, flood drainage. The list goes on and on...

Answer 2

modern medicine makes a big difference
people used to die of a cold

but there were also some very old people around ,and rich ones as well

the average was for the masses
they have found skeletons of giants that got to be more than 500 years they think on an island in a dried out see in Iraq
in hundreds of burial mounds
and there were traces of irrigation infrastructure
the legends say that this was the original garden of Eden
and that would make the giants the Nephilim
moses also got very old AMONGST OTHERS

today a lot of people are dying younger again because of air and water polution

Answer 3

Yeah and a thousand years ago people didn't even have running water and sewage systems like we do here in the US. Without sewage systems people caught disease much easier. Plus, they didn't have such advanced technology in medicine.

I'd rather live in this day and age where I can lay on my couch and watch hundreds of channels on my cable, be able to pop a xanax whenever I want, and go to a grocery store where theres a nice variety to get my food... rather than live in a cold dark cave, sleeping in your own ****, with no TV =)

Answer 4

First of all, it was less that 100 years ago that 60 yrs.of age was considered very old age. Secondly, medical advancements have
extended the natural lifespan of people by getting rid of many of the causes of premature deaths, such as infections, and diseases. Also life is not as physically difficult as it was 100 yrs. ago. Imagine how difficult and dangerous life was one or two thousand yrs. earlier!

Answer 5

There are lots of reasons that kill people not just poor diets. Even today some people that eat extremely well will get diseases. There are always viruses and bacteria that can affect people and back in time they didn't have antibiotics to treat them. Also medical technology was not as advanced as today. And now there are people that are living longer and still have heart disease and are obese because of medical intervention and drugs.

Answer 6

Other factors such as medical technology, genetic adaptation, awareness of the existence of bacteria / viruses hence, cleanliness during various surgical procedures including tooth extraction which was done in those days without anything to stop it from getting infected. Diseases which don't kill us, did kill them. Influenza, polio and the list goes on.

You're right though. At a glance it is rather odd.

Answer 7

That is because they did not have vaccines and such advanced medicine as today,people would die of the common cold.

Answer 8

Sunscreen.

Answer 9

Well, they did have crazy people running around with swords (Oliver Cromwell), rampant diseases (UNCLEAN UNCLEAN!!!!!), idiots (Geee, a apple fell on my head.....), etc.