Obviously observation had taught them valuable lessons which were inculcated
in future generations via the mechanism of religion. (I imagine something
similar dictated many of the Jewish dietary laws). BRBR

Actually, not many of the kosher laws are known to stem from health
observations. Ancient people did not have the statistical mechanisms available
today. According to one theory, pigs are not kosher because they were
worshipped by the Egyptians. Recent studies have found that dairy products &
meat eaten together are harder to digest, but the kosher prohibition against
eating milk with meat stems from a line in the Bible: "You shall not boil a kid
in its mother's milk." This is said to be out of respect for the mother goat's
feelings, since you just killed her baby. Poultry was not considered "meat"
until a rabbinic decision in the Seventeenth Century.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"A tree never hits an automobile except in self defense." - Woody Allen