On food and life expectancy

An astute point buried in the letters page of today’s (London) Sunday Times:

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: India Knight (Comment, last week) writes: “Our ancestors existed on red meat, and there is no evidence to show they all died of breast cancer.” But almost all of them died before the age of 30. Statistically, they would have had little risk of breast cancer relative to all life’s other dangers whether they ate red meat or not. Even by 1800 life expectancy was only about 35 years. She also says “organic food is the way forward”. Our ancestors only ate this along with fresh air and plenty of physical activity – and still died by 30. – Dr Ian Horman, co-author of 2 Million Years of the Food Industry, Blonay, Switzerland.