[extropy-chat] (health) risks and benefits along a bell curve ?

[gts]

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 22:58:24 -0500, Ensel Sharon <user at dhp.com> wrote:

> And then the next question, if it is indeed reasonable, is:
>
> Can I apply the same bell-curve / statistical outlyer common sense to
> positive health benefits, like eating a lot of berries and taking a lot  
> of anti-oxidants ... namely: If I don't see at least a few people that  
> become dramatically healthier and live dramatically longer because of  
> these
> practices, then probably the effect is negligible.  If practice XYZ  
> really was significantly healthful, I would at least see the statistical  
> outlyers living to be 150

I think what you should see, and what researchers probably do see, is a  
slight positive shift of the mean of the normal mortality curve for people  
who eat well. I think it's unreasonable to expect a sudden appearance of  
new statistical outlyers living to be 150.

-gts