Very true. I've seen this first-hand among my family and relatives. The ones who smoke[d] heavily and live horrible lifestyles, never giving a thought to diet and health, tend to still live longer than the general public....but many of their years are spent suffering from various ailments and going to doctors continually. The ones who took a little care, are usually quite healthy up until near the time of their passing.

You can probably largely determine if you will croak at 52 or 72.....but whether you live to be 82 or 92 or 102 is probably more about genetics....but the choices you make can definitely largely determine if your last 30 years(especially) will be enjoyable or miserable.

Yep. I think if people abided by moderation in everything, even the "bad things" wouldn't be so bad; and we'd all be a lot better off practicing that moderation, than reading these studies and basing our actions and lives on them. In Italy, smoking is still very common- "everyone smokes"- but you don't see the same high levels of lung cancer, CPOD, etc. as one does here in America, because the Italians tend not to smoke several packs of cigarettes A DAY, as many Americans do. They have an occasional cig, like after a meal.