Increased lifespans are the direct result of improved sanitation conditions, doctors washing their hands on top of that helps too.

Food handling, preparing is a huge part of that sanitation as well as proper waste removal (animal by products etc).

Modern medicine is the third leading cause of death (JAMA 2000).

What I meant by "learning how the human body works" was that in order to cure disease, you have to know causes and functions. I think many areas of the human body were still a mystery to people 400 years ago.

Cholesterol is protective, we need it. Commercial enterprise along with a single hypothesis by one individual created the "cholesterol-heart disease" theory which is completely false.

Millions are taking acid blockers, when the problem is lack of inorganic stomach acid and high waste fermenting acids (caused by poor diet).

The Federal Death Association (FDA) is symbiotic to revenue producers not health care practioners.

The only time an anti-biotic is worth taking is during pneumonia. That condition however is frequentely caused by conditions which are largely preventable (never taught in medical school).

Anti-biotics are almost worthless against MRSA, but raw honey will never false no matter what new mutations develope.

The flip side to that is this. Some people just have bad genes, even if they ate a near perfect diet and took supplements they would still get sick. My Dad is a nephrologist, I see really sick people all the time. Do I think a lot of those people are in there because they smoke, eat horrible diets, etc? OF COURSE. But, sometimes people do just end up getting sick, even if they are healthy.

We can talk trash and say f*** modern medicine completely. True the FDA is a prime example of government bureaucracy, not concerned with health as much as money. BUT, if one of us goes into septic shock, ends up in the ICU, we are going to want the help of modern medicine, because sometime herbs are not enough. In the same sense, once your kidneys fail the only thing that can keep you alive is a dialysis machine (or a transplant). Make no mistake, without these things, many many many people would be dead. It is not clear cut in any way.