The Stalled Pursuit Of Eternal Youth

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For as long as history can remember, human beings have been trying to find ways to live longer lives. Medical science and modern technology have helped to prolong the average lifespan to more than double what it was just in the last century, but there will always be demand for ways to increase it further. Sure, people may have unhealthy habits and use substances that are detrimental to long-term longevity, but on the average, most people live longer now than they did before. However, recent studies are starting to suggest that average human longevity may stop increasing soon, with the potential of actually stopping at some point. This, according to experts, is particularly true in the United States, where the average lifespan is expected to drop.

One reason is the startlingly high mortality rate for infants within the US. A large number of babies are born in urban slum or country hollow areas, where the care that they can receive can be primitive in most cases. The lack of care and the large-scale lack of access to proper medical care essentially kills the children, causing America to have the second steepest morality rate for newborns among developed nations. While the situation has been improving since 2005, the US is still far behind many countries in improving the infant survival rate, including Cuba.

Another major factor in the decline of longevity in the average US population is tied to obesity, particularly among children and adults. The multibillion dollar economic and political clout that can be mustered by the industries that contribute to the problem makes it highly unlikely that this problem will go away soon. Fast foods, sugared drinks, and countless other products regularly receive blame for contributing to the overall tendency of people to become overweight or obese, and there is no sign of the industries and companies behind these products slowing down any time soon.

Finally, there has been a considerable amount of slowdown in medical research in the US. Various fields are being blocked by external factors, such as the Catholic Church's strong opposition to stem cell research. There has also been a distinct lack of "what makes the sky blue" studies, the ones that answer basic questions that could lead to more relevant discoveries.