Human ancestors started eating meat, evolution served up a healthy bonus...
 

By Gilien Silsby and Gia Scafidi When our human ancestors started eating
meat, evolution served up a healthy bonus - the development of genes that
offset high cholesterol and chronic diseases associated with a meat-rich
diet, according to a new USC study.
Those ancestors also started living longer than ever before - an unexpected
evolutionary twist.

The research by USC professors Caleb Finch and Craig Stanford appeared in
the Quarterly Review of Biology.

"At some point - probably about 2 1/2 million years ago - meat eating became
important to humans," said Stanford, chair of the anthropology department in
the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, "and when that happened,
everything changed."

"Meat contains cholesterol and fat, not to mention potential parasites and
diseases like Mad Cow," he said. "We believe humans evolved to resist these
kinds of things. Mad Cow disease - which probably goes back millions of
years - would have wiped out the species if we hadn't developed
meat-tolerant genes."

Finch, the paper's lead author, and Stanford found unexpected treasure
troves in research ranging from chronic disease in great apes to the
evolution of the human diet. They also focused on several genes, including
apolipoprotein E (apoE), which decreases the risk of Alzheimer's and
vascular disease in aging human adults.

Chimpanzees - which eat more meat than any other great ape, but are still
largely vegetarian - served as an ideal comparison because they carry a
different variation of the apoE gene, yet lack human ancestors' resistance
to diseases associated with a meat-rich diet.

While chimpanzees have a shorter life span compared to humans, they
demonstrate accelerated physical and cerebral development, remain fertile
into old age and experience few brain-aging changes relative to the
devastation of Alzheimer's seen in humans today. Finch and Stanford argued
that the new human apoE variants protected the chimpanzees.

In a series of "evolutionary tradeoffs," the researchers said, humans lost
some advantages over those primates, but gained a higher tolerance to meat,
slower aging and longer lifespan.

Still, if humans developed genes to compensate for a meat-rich diet, why do
so many now suffer from high cholesterol and vascular disease?

The answer is a lack of exercise and moderation, according to the
researchers.

"This shift to a diet rich in meat and fat occurred at a time when the
population was dominated by hunters and gatherers," said Finch, a USC
University Professor and holder of the ARCO-William F. Kieschnick Chair in
the Neurobiology of Aging.

"The level of physical activity among these human ancestors was much higher
than most of us have ever known," he said. "Whether humans today, with our
sedentary lifestyle, remain highly tolerant to meat eating remains an open
question researchers are looking into."

Stanford, co-director of the university's Goodall Research Center, said that
modern-day humans "tend to gorge ourselves with meat and fat."

"For example, our ancestors only ate bird eggs in the spring when they were
available," he said. "Now we eat them year-round. They may have hunted one
deer a season and eaten it over several months. We can go to the supermarket
and buy as much meat as we want."

"I think we can learn a lesson from this," Stanford said. "Eating meat is
fine, but in moderation and with a lot of exercise."

Contact Gilien Silsby at (213) 740-4751, , or Gia Scafidi at
(213) 740-9335, .
--
Ken

"They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some
kind of federal program."

-Bushism's, 2000

Human ancestors started eating meat, evolution served up a healthy bonus...
 

thanks for posting this

--
Lori
220/153/150
LC since 1/17/03
Devoted wife of Curtis, Stage 4 Prostate cancer at age 40
http://community.webshots.com/user/lorismiller-date
"Ken Kubos" wrote in message
...
By Gilien Silsby and Gia Scafidi When our human ancestors started eating
meat, evolution served up a healthy bonus - the development of genes that
offset high cholesterol and chronic diseases associated with a meat-rich
diet, according to a new USC study.
Those ancestors also started living longer than ever before - an
unexpected
evolutionary twist.

The research by USC professors Caleb Finch and Craig Stanford appeared in
the Quarterly Review of Biology.

"At some point - probably about 2 1/2 million years ago - meat eating
became
important to humans," said Stanford, chair of the anthropology department
in
the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, "and when that happened,
everything changed."

"Meat contains cholesterol and fat, not to mention potential parasites and
diseases like Mad Cow," he said. "We believe humans evolved to resist
these
kinds of things. Mad Cow disease - which probably goes back millions of
years - would have wiped out the species if we hadn't developed
meat-tolerant genes."

Finch, the paper's lead author, and Stanford found unexpected treasure
troves in research ranging from chronic disease in great apes to the
evolution of the human diet. They also focused on several genes, including
apolipoprotein E (apoE), which decreases the risk of Alzheimer's and
vascular disease in aging human adults.

Chimpanzees - which eat more meat than any other great ape, but are still
largely vegetarian - served as an ideal comparison because they carry a
different variation of the apoE gene, yet lack human ancestors' resistance
to diseases associated with a meat-rich diet.

While chimpanzees have a shorter life span compared to humans, they
demonstrate accelerated physical and cerebral development, remain fertile
into old age and experience few brain-aging changes relative to the
devastation of Alzheimer's seen in humans today. Finch and Stanford argued
that the new human apoE variants protected the chimpanzees.

In a series of "evolutionary tradeoffs," the researchers said, humans lost
some advantages over those primates, but gained a higher tolerance to
meat,
slower aging and longer lifespan.

Still, if humans developed genes to compensate for a meat-rich diet, why
do
so many now suffer from high cholesterol and vascular disease?

The answer is a lack of exercise and moderation, according to the
researchers.

"This shift to a diet rich in meat and fat occurred at a time when the
population was dominated by hunters and gatherers," said Finch, a USC
University Professor and holder of the ARCO-William F. Kieschnick Chair in
the Neurobiology of Aging.

"The level of physical activity among these human ancestors was much
higher
than most of us have ever known," he said. "Whether humans today, with our
sedentary lifestyle, remain highly tolerant to meat eating remains an open
question researchers are looking into."

Stanford, co-director of the university's Goodall Research Center, said
that
modern-day humans "tend to gorge ourselves with meat and fat."

"For example, our ancestors only ate bird eggs in the spring when they
were
available," he said. "Now we eat them year-round. They may have hunted one
deer a season and eaten it over several months. We can go to the
supermarket
and buy as much meat as we want."

"I think we can learn a lesson from this," Stanford said. "Eating meat is
fine, but in moderation and with a lot of exercise."

Contact Gilien Silsby at (213) 740-4751, , or Gia Scafidi at
(213) 740-9335, .
--
Ken

"They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's so
me
kind of federal program."

-Bushism's, 2000

Human ancestors started eating meat, evolution served up a healthybonus...
 

Ken Kubos wrote:

"Meat contains cholesterol and fat, not to mention potential parasites and
diseases like Mad Cow," he said. "We believe humans evolved to resist these
kinds of things. Mad Cow disease - which probably goes back millions of
years - would have wiped out the species if we hadn't developed
meat-tolerant genes."


Er... rubbish. BSE (Mad Cow) was a man-made condition caused by farmers
feeding material containing sheeps brains to cows. Cows are not
carnivores - but we forced them to be; and got our just desserts.

As ever, love of the $$ (or in this case ££) drove out all common sense.

--
Chris

Human ancestors started eating meat, evolution served up a healthybonus...
 

Succorso wrote:

Ken Kubos wrote:
=20
"Meat contains cholesterol and fat, not to mention potential parasites=
=20
and diseases like Mad Cow," he said. "We believe humans evolved to res=
ist=20
these kinds of things. Mad Cow disease - which probably goes back mill=
ions of
years - would have wiped out the species if we hadn't developed
meat-tolerant genes."

Er... rubbish. BSE (Mad Cow) was a man-made condition caused by farmers=
=20
feeding material containing sheeps brains to cows. Cows are not=20
carnivores - but we forced them to be; and got our just desserts.

Oversimplified. Scrapie existed long before this and was transmitted=20
with no human agency. And Chronic Wasting Disease in ungulates, as=20
well. CJD and kuru in humans. Nothing new that they exist. New only=20
that they were spread as they were. If the prions that cause the=20
various forms of spongiform encephalopathy didn't exist before the=20
whole furor, the condition wouldn't have emerged at all.

The FDA web site says:
"What causes BSE?

"The exact cause of BSE is not known but it is generally accepted by=20
the scientific community that infectious forms of a type of protein,=20
prions, normally found in animals cause BSE."

It goes on to say:
"BSE is a Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE), a family of=20
similar diseases that may infect certain species of animals and people=20
such as scrapie in sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy=20
(BSE) in cattle, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk, and=20
Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD) in people."

In humans, Kuru (q.v.) is also a prion disease, caused by cannibalism.=20
One site says, "Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease displays striking=20
similarities to kuru in regards to symptoms displayed and organ damage=20
(mostly to the brain). Comparisons and parallels are evident between=20
these two prion diseases."
http://www.as.ua.edu/ant/bindon/ant570/Papers/McGrath/McGrath.htm

As ever, love of the $$ (or in this case =A3=A3) drove out all common s=
ense.

Farmers trying to bring you cheaper food and food processors trying to=20
create cheaper food for the critters so the farmers could bring you=20
cheaper, etc. were working together to try to do something good for=20
all. Oh, well. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Pastorio