See:
http://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html#ltttlgtSubelementOfLtchannelgt
and
http://www.neilturner.me.uk/2003/Aug/10/lowering_bandwidth_usage_with_ttl_in_rss.html
This feature is now supported in IE7 and Outlook 2007. Would be nice to see it added as an option to the SiteConfig.