I'm now serious about this theory that the farmers nick the best food - and leave the rotten stuff in the barrel.

I left the game running on Slow overnight - in the cradle and powered on to try and get the food balance up a bit.

When I left it, Kamau was 13, in full health and had a little bit of research, so I ticked this and let him grow. When I got up this morning, he had turned 17, is a Master Scientist - and his health bar is half gone - he is in the Yellow.

There are 3 farmers (1 aged 20 and two pensioners), 1 woman nursing, 4 kids and Kamau. So the population is 9 - and he's the only researcher. There were no events that affected him. There are over 1000 units of food available and everyone else is fully healthy, but the pensioners are starting to weaken.

I'm baffled as to why Kamau is far less healthy than all the others with no apparent reason.