Kultur: Thoughts in a Country Churchyard; Longevity in Antiquity

Longevity in Antiquity

1. Lao-tzu c. 604- 531 BC, age 73
2. Pythagoras c. 582-500 BC, age 82
3. Anacreon, c. 570-480 BC, age 90
4. Xenophanes, c. 570-475 BC, age 95
5. Simonides, c. 556-468 BC, age 88
6. Confucius, c. 551-479 BC, age 72
7. Heraclitus, c. 540-480, age 60
8. Themistocles, c. 528-462 BC, age 64
9. Aeschylus, 525-456 BC, age 69
10. Pindar, c. 518-438 BC, age 78
11. Anaxagoras, c. 500-428 BC, age 72
12. Pericles, c. 495-429 BC, age 66
13. Sophocles, c. 495-406, age 89
14. Empedocles, c. 490-430 BC, age 60 (committed suicide)
15. Euripides, c. 485-406 BC, age 79
16. Herodotus, c. 485-425 BC, age 60
17. Protagoras, c. 485-410 BC, age 75
18. Socrates, 469-399 BC, age 70 (executed)
19. Hippocrates, 460-377 BC, age 83
20. Thucydides, c. 460-400, age 60

During lifetimes of such a generous span, cancer would have shown itself. I remember reading that the average age at which cancer strikes is around 62 years. Many cancers occur even before this age. For metastatic kidney cancer, the average age is around 55. For oral cancer, the average age is 60. Thus, all of the above individuals lived long enough to get cancer. Yet, to my knowledge, there is no record that any of them developed the disease.

Could it be that cancer was just as rampant in ancient times as it is today, with the only difference being that it went undiagnosed? Some readers have proposed this idea. My view is this: the disease was definitely known, and it was just as definitely rare in most periods in human history. About one-quarter of tumors manifest externally. Pre-modern medical writers were fascinated by cancer and were on the lookout for malignancies. They had the ability to identify many types of cancer. However, they seldom had the opportunity to do so, due to the paucity of cases. Reports of cancer, and interest in the disease, began to increase, like an incessant drumbeat, throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth centuries.

hyperinsulinemia,” or high blood sugar.

Eventually, this can develop into full-blown type II diabetes. Many people with a disturbed sugar metabolism are also afflicted with obesity, which is conventionally accepted as a predisposing factor for many kinds of cancer. Thus, the relationship between sugar and cancer can be indirectly mediated through long-term alterations in body chemistry.

For health reasons I suggest that readers limit their intake of refined carbohydrates. Evidence suggests that it will decrease your chances of developing a host of diseases, including some kinds of cancer.

References:

Dates of birth and death for authors from antiquity: Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, Sixteenth Edition.

Average age of onset for metastatic kidney cancer: http://bonetumor.org/page64.html

Average age of onset for oral cancer: http://www.adha.org/oralhealth/oralcancer.htm