I think about this phenomenon a lot. some of it is certainly survivor bias, but I do think environmental contaminants and industrial food processing are cumulative and subject to some kind magnification.

of course, I never met any of my grandfathers as they died from cardiac events in their 40s before I was born. one was due to major alcoholism and the other is unknown... just a massive heart attack 20 years before I was born. the next gen of men seem to have mostly made it to their 70s, with some close calls and none of them are what I would call robust individuals. definitely higher incidence of diagnosed metabolic disorders and their comorbidities. also, a lot of late boomers just seem to ignore everything their doctors say.

I have an aunt in her 70s that can now no longer walk and has lost her vision after ignoring her doctors about controlling her diabetes for 20 years. just kept on chowing down on pasta and sugary drinks, not taking any of her medications. I do not get it at all. now all her retired siblings are having to figure out the schedule for taking care of her for the next decade or whatever.

I noticed something with boomers in my family. they all swore up and down that "when the time comes, I don't want to be a burden" but despite all the material capacity, time to plan, and infrastructure in the world, they have made absolutely zero plans to become anything but a sudden and insane burden on everyone around them, who are all working poor and can barely support themselves.

I remember all of them complaining about their parents doing it to them, and they are bending over backwards to do it even more themselves. like no understanding that they will one day stop being allowed to drive and need to plan for that day... and not try to defy it by putting their community in danger.