Yes Hana they were, but, as I have pointed out in the 'antibiotics' thread, we have now entered the terrifying stage where we have 'superbugs' and no antibiotics that will destroy them. This has happened off the back of the antibiotics' own success.
More people die every year from MRSA than from Aids.
There are natural substances from plant extracts that can work, but because all the effort goes into creating highly commercially lucrative drugs, benefits from those things has been largely ignored. There are little bits of research coming out now showing the benefits of some of these extracts or natural substances, but they are still small in comparison with the billions spent on drug research.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/91693
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... tists.html (and a lot less side effects - I know, my daughter uses it. The antidepressants made her very ill)
http://www.naturalnews.com/023373_MRSA_ ... _cork.html
The annoying thing is that when plant benefits are investigated, the drug companies jump on the bandwagon, extract what they consider to be the 'active ingredient', develop it synthetically, then market it as yet another 'cash cow'. What they fail to realise is that it is the whole plant that is giving the benefit - the other elements are there to act as 'buffers' and support. Discarding them is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Then they can't understand why the drugs give such awful side-effects, but the plant extracts don't.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... pains.html (What? Basil extract better than Diclofenac!!! Perish the thought!)
Of course our ancestors weren't as long lived as we are - they had a much harder life for a start. Their sanitary habits left much to be desired, etc., even some cultures now who don't follow our diet and lifestyle aren't as long lived, but they too often live a very hard existence, either having to forage for their food or living in difficult - either very hot, or very cold areas and that must certainly take its toll (UPB mentioned the other day that the Inuit live 10 years less than we do - perhaps, but it is a life spent well, fit and healthy).
I remember watching a programme done by two doctors (the twins featured in the Daily Mail article over the weekend) who visited different cultures over the course of the series. This one featured a group on the Eastern Seaboard of Siberia. It was very cold most of the year. They lived off fish, walrus and whale (and blubber). The comment was made that no one ever died of ill-health, only accident or old age. They lived happy lives - and they all had very low cholesterol!
For all our 'benefits' over here, do we really have that much better a life in many ways? Plagued with illness and disease, financial worries, stress, addiction, etc., etc., for all our material wealth and technological progress, are we really any healthier or happier than they are?
