Healthy but Dead - the Doctor's ideal patient
Britons 'healthier in medieval times' - Telegraph
People in medieval times were healthier than modern Britons because they did not suffer from cholesterol related diseases, it has been claimed
Roger Henderson, a GP who carried out the research, said his findings suggested the medieval diet was by far the healthiest for the average man - low in saturated fats and transfats, high in vegetables and a moderate amount of weak alcohol daily.
Combined with a highly active workload this meant their risk of heart disease, diabetes and diseases linked to obesity were much less than in 2007.
But the average lifespan in medieval times was about half of what it is now ....
Comments
Must have been all the vitamin-rich fresh food they ate in the winter, perhaps.
Posted by: Alec in France | December 18, 2007 8:01 AM
They were healthier on average because on average there were less old folks about - they keeled over from hard work long before they became pensioners.
The free bus pass is a modern phenomenon.
Posted by: Doctor Mick | December 18, 2007 8:48 AM
The average age was lower because of death in childbirth and infant mortality. There would have been plenty of bus passes.
Posted by: Shirley | December 18, 2007 1:30 PM
Last paragraph in this utterly regrettable farrago of crap:
In other words, the bulk of people no longer have to work back-breaking lives of hard labour and die at thirty but can sit at a desk and last into old age.This is yet another confirmatory datum to add to my contention that quacks should restrict themselves to dishing out pills and fixing us when we break. If there's a better example of the too-clever-by-half mentality that plagues us in modern life than the media doctor I don't know what it is. You really need an advanced degree to believe something this stupid.
Posted by: David Gillies | December 18, 2007 4:48 PM