The Food

Like Plato eventually said about people, you could breed them like animals, for specific traits, and by the experimentation of diet, they found they could create people who could still get through the day's work - not too energetically, but enough to get by. They were too weak to walk off and they weren't too bright, because you need the nourishment in your early years. That's the key to health. It's not just a matter of having plenty of food. It's a variety of the right kinds of food and the right quantity, while you're growing up. That sets you for life. If certain things have been missing, you will suffer in later life. That's inevitable. You can supplement them all, after you have grown up, and defray the damage. It can't be done. It may be slowed a little bit, but it can't be reversed. When your bones are set they're set.