Good job !

I will give you many examples of when a sibling is not predisposed to strong genetics. That does not defy the rule.

the mounds of added sugar (real and manufactured) should be on that list as well!

My mother's side of the family is a good example of how strange life can be. My grandfather was a heavy drinker and smoker. He didn't eat well nor enough. He had no health problems until his early seventies ! Then his arteries blocked and he lost a leg. He died around 80 years old. Grandma smoked all her life and drank a bit, but did yoga. Her nutrition wasn't the best but lessbad than grandpa. She survived a first heart attack in her fifties but died from a massive one at 74. Which is old enough for a life long smoker. BUT my aunt, who never smoked, had an excellent nutrition, exercised regularly, breast fed her 2 children, never abused of anything, had breast cancer in her forties and died at 54 from colon cancer !!! Her brother, my uncle, died at 54 too, from a heart attack. He was a smoker and a drinker.

@Nathalie_Quebec Sounds like your Aunt could have been a longevity winner IF she had had regular screening. Both her cancers are those that can be stopped if caught early. <sigh>

@evergreen she had regular scanning ! She won her battle against breast cancer with radiation, but the other one was devastating. I'll never know for sure. All I know is I have regular scanning of my breasts. Had just once checked my colon though... Both my parents are cancer survivors, well my mother might be still in danger cause she has spots on her lungs. Thanks for your reply though !

@Nathalie_Quebec '
it's all a crapshoot.

Obviously the person who benefits from the weakness of others will claim that diet doesn't change genetic makeup. It's called Nutrigenomics, for starters.

@DZhukovin I know that it’s called Nutrigenomics and I know that a diet tailored to one’s specific traits can mitigate illnesses and allergies etc...I already acknowledged that...it’s extremely helpful in controlling our metabolic systems. What I don’t believe it can do is alter our inherited genetic makeup completely.

@Marionville Wrong again. Trust me. I don't know about people changing into other species, but I know that severe changes are possible.

@DZhukovin I don’t believe I’m wrong...and I don’t trust you.

@Marionville Why? There's a whole discipline centered around the practical, manual and exact alteration of human genetics. You think CRISPR and other such programs are the only real means of doing this? No. It goes much deeper.

I agree with you completely even on the average of my parents' life which I expect to live.

@Condorandino where’d yawl hear that average of your parents life thing? Sounds like folk wisdom on the surface but if there’s any actual knowledge there I’m really interested.

@JacobMeyers
Wisdom from village elders, one of the many things they don't teach you in college. Scientific research publishes one thing is good for you and the next year it is bad for you. We later find out that the research was funded by the industry. Wine was good for you for decades, now no alcohol is good for you.

@St-Sinner yeah that is especially true if you buy into science headlines. The actual trend of research is not so tumultuous though. The phenomenon of science sensationalism is well know to science fans I don’t totally discount folk wisdom or ancient memes though. We’ve seen several times where old world knowledge has been true at its core. Sure sometimes existing knowledge get overturned( mostly in the public mind though). It’s what makes science better than tradition, it can change its mind when there’s new evidence.

@JacobMeyers
Science is overall better but not good enough to dismiss age old wisdom. There are a lot of things that science has not even looked into. As far the average age of parents is concerned, it is a rule of thumb that seems to be true in many examples. One day science may find some truth in it. We do not know but there are things in the conventional wisdom that have proven better than the rules in the modern life.

For example, there are societies outside in the U.S. that do not follow many things modern science (especially allopathy) recommends. Allopathy is mistrusted. People often use conventional methods like home remedies.The overuse of antibiotics is unheard of in many places.

People do not go to doctors at all. They focus on living right. My mother never went to a doctor all her life. She was very educated but was old school. Other than getting vaccine shots, none of we children ever remember going to a doctor otherwise. We used homeopathy for everything. We lived where we are surrounded by diseases. She delivered babies with village midwives help and never went to a doctor. Was healthy until the end.

I tried to visit a doctor during my vacation back home just for a regular checkup (because I had time and had not done it when I was a student in NY) and everyone asked me what was wrong with me? The news spread and people came home to see me.

Yes, people go to doctors there but I am talking about the majority and what they do until they get seriously sick.

@St-Sinner I think we are mostly on the same page but maybe coming from different angles. I agree We are way over using antibiotic remedies. There’s are even drs who prescribe them for colds, it’s lunacy.
Returning to the parental age of death thing I feel certain (enough to bet my life on it haha) that particular science has been done by life insurance companies. They know if it’s true and to what degree it’s true with some pretty sure precision, they have to. It’s too bad they don’t publish in publicly accessible arenas.

That's the 1 million dollars question. The jury is still out. I have seen several centenarians who never became vegans and they still made it. My girlfriend takes care of a 97 y.o. lady who eats a fried egg every day plus other obscenities and she hates vegetables. Her genes are amazing.

I agree with you 100 % I just want to keep my mind sharp and for doing that, I am learning languages. I am now on my eighth and my memory is sharp as a tack. When I am unable to walk any more, I will just ask for euthanasia. I need to exercise and to be in a wheelchair is unthinkable to me.

Good point. I weighed 10 lbs at birth and I have been overweighed all my life but my cholesterol is 175, I have no blood pressure and no diabetes and nobody in my family has history of that. Both my parents were chubby and they lived to 86 and 81 respectively. One thing that I regret is that they pushed me to eat during my entire childhood. I learned from that experience, and my 4 children are completely normal. No fat people in my next generation

I agree with you a 100 % Once you are in this world, there is little you can do to change your genetic makeup. You can just help a little with a healthy diet and exercise. To be vegan for the rest of your life is absurd and stupid.

Yeah. There is a whole discipline devoted to gene regulation, modulation, and improvement through material intervention. But people who benefit from the weakness of others and other inferiors don't grasp that, unfortunately. I'm glad that YOU do.

I agree with you that diet helps but it is NOT the solution to gene mutations or other things that we are predestined to have based on our ancestry. I had a big argument with a friend who is a vegan and he is convinced that he could live up to 120 y.o. if he continues with this torture of eating only vegetables forever. He even went as far as saying that the "original homo sapiens" was vegetarian. I told him that he can believe in anything he wants but the evidence shows that man has been a hunter for 250,000 years. It bothers me so much to treat nutrition as a religion. I have hundreds of examples of people who are on their late nineties and they eat whatever they want. No diabetes, no cholesterol, no high blood pressure If these are NOT GENES, what the hell they are??

@Condorandino I agree. But you know we are a nation of trend followers and whatever is hot news we flock to it like christians looking for salvation. LOL.

@AmelieMatisse I have been overwhelmed and very grateful for so many responses I got from my question. My point was just not be a "nutritiotollah" This expression comes from the infamous Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 when he founded the Islamic (Theocratic) Republic of Iran and became the owner of the truth. To be a vegan and believe in nutrition science to the point of becoming a religion is absolutely absurd. NOBODY, absolutely nobody is the owner of the truth regarding life and besides what is good today is poison tomorrow. This has happened so many times that I lost count. Apparently there is a fad right now to become a vegan. Everything you eat that is an animal protein is poison. This is incredibly stupid. I support a common sense diet with everything in moderation and exercise but eliminate ALL animal proteins is insane. Man has been eating animals for 250,000 years for heaven's sake and to now state that originally man was a vegetarian is ridiculous. You cannot change history and time flows in only one direction.

@Condorandino I believe that we have to be intentional with our eating and we need to eat every healthy thing that we can whether it is animal protein and vegetable carbohydrates and much less sugar. We shouldn't waste and we shouldn't create horrible environments for the animals we intend to turn into food. The bottom line is that everything is part of the food chain. If I fall into the ocean and drown I will be eaten. I know a few vegans who are anything but healthy, Just because they do not eat animal product of any kind does not mean they eat healthy. I know one vegan who is a sugar addict. Sometimes I think it falls into the "I am so much more evolved than you are" category. I just hate when someone wants to shove their beliefs down my throat whether it is christianity or vegetarianism.

@AmelieMatisse You put it exactly like I think. All these questions that I asked came from a big argument with a friend who is a psychologist who became insane with "veganism" and now he is spreading the gospel with anybody who wants to listen to his bullshit. It made me very angry last Sunday and I told him that the jury is still out and that genes have a tremendous influence in our lives. He even quoted a nutritionist saying that genes account for only 25 % of your outcome in life. I laughed at him and told him not to behave like a priest. I hate when people think that they are the owners of the absolute truth. I know that genes are extremely important and I have analyzed myself compared to my father and I am almost like a clon of him. I have the same osteoarthritis to the neck that he used to complain about in his senior years, the same BPH that he had for many years before checking out and the same body type. I looked exactly like him at the same age. If these are not genes what the hell they are?? Obviously I learned from my life experience and I eat healthier than him and I also exercise 4 times a week but to become vegan, HELL NO!! That would be absolutely stupid. I am convinced that by being hunters for 250,000 years, men's genes have made them carnivores and I know that there are some animal proteins that you need and cannot be replaced by vegetable proteins alone. I do not abuse animal proteins and I eat several vegetables except Kalle and arugula which taste awful. I am not going to torture myself for the rest of my days by becoming a vegan, knowing that life is too short.