I spent a while working at an NIH-funded institute doing research on ageing and age-related diseases. While the naive person seems to seek longevity, those in the field are far more interested in the concept of health-span. Most people lead awful lives nowadays: 85% of US citizens are fat, obese, morbidly obese or hyper-obese. Sadly many other countries aren’t far off these numbers too. Furthermore the average person these days in developed nations not only eats very poorly but also exercises rarely if at all. The result: all manner of unnecessary chronic diseases and ailments. Far better to live modest healthy lives than to fixate on dreams of being sofa-bound for hundreds of years. There is, surely, only so much McSlop anyone could want to consume in a lifetime…