Mike,

> In healthcare these days there is much worshipping (especially by
> politicians and other policy-makers)) at the shrine of "Evidence-based
> medicine" but, valuable though scientific medical research certainly can
> be, it is always limited by the fact that it relates to a specific
> population and lifestyle at a particular (and now passed!) point in time.

I suppose the problem at the moment is that we don't have anything better.
Perhaps one day, we will understand genetics well enough that it will be
possible to give personalised health recommendations. Person A might be told
that a few cigarettes wouldn't hurt, but he should be sure to keep in shape
physically. Person B might be told the opposite.

It's even theoretically possible that some people might benefit from smoking,
but because the research goes on averages, you can't see it; the effect is
masked by the larger number of people whose health is made worse.

I think the research should allow for lifestyle advice that is good on
average, though. Until our knowledge of genetics improves, you have no way of
knowing whether you are in the (hypothetical) group which benefits from
smoking. Because of this, you are better off giving up, because the average
person is better off giving up.

> A range of indigenous populations with very physical, grounded (living in
> harmony and close contact with nature) and community-based lifetyles have
> high-cholesterol, high-protein, high-saturated-fat diets (and many our
> stone-age ancestors did too, especially in the winter months) yet do not
> suffer from our high-incidence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and
> cancer. However, many of them die younger from other causes, especially
> infectious diseases and "accidents" (including being accidentally killed by
> a wild animal, snake or spider!).

Don't forget that life expectancy was only 20-30 years for much of the stone
age. Very few people lived long enough to experience the "lifestyle"
diseases. Also, stone age people wouldn't have smoked and they would be
physically fit.

Pete