Sugar has played a key role in the history of humanity since it was domesticated on the island of New Guinea approximately 10,000 years ago. The New Guineans picked the cane and ate it raw. They, like billions of people afterwards, were hooked and the sugar cane was featured prominently in their myths. Thereafter, sugar… Continue reading Sugar Daddy
Tag: evolutionary medicine
Mobility and Mortality (M&Ms)
Mobility is defined as the ability to move freely and easily. After the initial magical moments when we take our first steps and until we begin to lose this mobility under the insidious burden of chronic disease, this mobility is mostly taken for granted. However, it is the hallmark of our humanity, evolutionarily and developmentally.… Continue reading Mobility and Mortality (M&Ms)
Hunger games
Hara hachi bu is a Confucian adage that dates back 2500 years and instructs people to eat until they are 80% full. The Okinawans from Japan use this mantra before every meal, enabling them to be mindful of their food consumption. Elderly Okinawans have among the lowest mortality rates in the world from a multitude… Continue reading Hunger games
What’s the DALY
Aging is the defined as the gradual functional and structural decline of an organism, resulting in an increasing risk of disease, impairment, and mortality over the life span. It is thought to be reliant upon a balance of exposure and resiliency. By 2050, the world population aged 80 years and above will more than triple… Continue reading What’s the DALY
Metabolic Ghetto
The staggering increase in the prevalence and incidence of metabolic syndrome and its various components is especially alarming amongst minority populations worldwide and within the United States. For example, the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes has doubled in India in the last 30 years, obesity rates have increased 3 fold or more since 1980 in… Continue reading Metabolic Ghetto
The ‘exposome’ exposed!
How can we explain the observation that Pima Indians living in the Southwest United States have a five fold higher prevalence of diabetes than their counterparts living across the border in Mexico? Not only are these populations genetically identical, numerous studies have been unsuccessful in identifying chromosomal regions with a strong linkage to the trait.… Continue reading The ‘exposome’ exposed!
Know thy (evolutionary) history
Human evolutionary history has unfolded over millions of years and has transformed us from one generation to the next to its current state. In fact, the process of evolution continues to occur today and humans will be different in many aspects generations from now. If you look at human beings through the lens of evolution, it… Continue reading Know thy (evolutionary) history
S-Fxn 