Originally Posted by gauvins

II am not an expert in the field. Two observations. First, life expectancy at birth has increased significantly. (there are reports of plateau, maybe even a reduction for some demographics, but nothing major, yet).

wrt the to diabetes, it is not clear to me whether the sharp increase in incidence is due to poor health hygiene vs more aggressive diagnosis. I am type II despite not being overweight and having an "active" lifestyle. A generation ago I wouldn't have figured in the diabetes stats simply because there are no obvious signs that I have issues with processing sugar.

But you are certainly right that for a fairly large segment of the population, a diet rich in sugar and fats has wreaked havoc.

This being said, the bike tourers / commuters that I encounter tend to look quite fit. The commuter crowd tends to look younger than the tourers.