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Evolutionary medicine or Darwinian medicine is the field of knowledge that integrates medicine with evolutionary biology, more specifically with the adaptationist program.
The theory of evolution states that all living beings are the result of a process known as evolution by natural selection. This process occurs whenever genetically influenced variation among a population affects reproductive success. For instance, a genetic mutation that causes greater vulnerability to disease and negatively affects reproductive success will decrease in frequency compared to its alternative allele that causes greater resistance to disease.
It is thought that evolution by natural selection produced the functional design observed in living beings, known as adaptations, and therefore sickness and disease can be explained through a cost v. benefit analysis of physiological function. Understanding evolutionary design helps medical researchers explain phenomena like: infections, injury, intoxication, genetic diseases, aging, allergy, problems during childbirth, cancer and mental disorders.
Among the researchers in this field who have received recent recognition are: Rainer H. Straub, Paul W. Ewald, Sharon Moalem, Randolph M. Nesse, Dr. James McKenna, and George C. Williams.
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Applications
A well-known example of the application of evolutionary medicine is the study of the evolutionary arms race between the body's defenses and pathogens. Other examples include human populations that have certain disease susceptibilities that arose as compromises allowing their survival. These include, sickle cell anemia protecting against malaria, hemochromatosis protecting against the bubonic plague and cystic fibrosis protecting against typhoid fever.
Nutrition
- See also: Paleolithic diet
Certain advocates of evolutionary medicine, such as Loren Cordain and S. Boyd Eaton, have examined the relationship between diet and health by employing evolutionary biology to determine human nutritional requirements and explain the role of diet in the etiology of disease and illness.123 This approach is based on the premise that metabolic and physiological responses of the body to diet reflect the influence of human evolution and that an understanding of the ancestral human diet can inform contemporary nutritional science.123
Physical activity
Proponents of evolutionary medicine, including Loren Cordain and S. Boyd Eaton, have established physical exercise guidelines for health promotion and disease prevention, recommending the adoption of a physically active lifestyle similar to that of ancestral hunter-gatherers.45678 Advocates argue that modern humans are adapted to a life of strenuous physical activity.4 Hunter-gatherers typically walk and run 5 to 10 miles per day in search of food, and, in so doing, they basically cross-train, performing aerobic, resistance, and flexibility exercises.4 Days of intense physical activity are followed by days of recovery. Their survival requires them to be extremely physically active.4
See also
Footnotes
- ^ a b Eaton SB, Strassman BI, Nesse RM, Neel JV, Ewald PW, Williams GC, Weder AB, Eaton SB 3rd, Lindeberg S, Konner MJ, Mysterud I, Cordain L (February 2002). "Evolutionary health promotion" (PDF). Prev Med 34 (2): 109–18. doi:. PMID 11817903, http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Health%20Promotion%20Paper.pdf.
- ^ a b Eaton SB (2006, February). "The ancestral human diet: what was it and should it be a paradigm for contemporary nutrition?". Proc Nutr Soc. 65 (1): 1–6. doi:. PMID 16441938.
- ^ a b Milton K (2003). "Micronutrient intakes of non-human primates: are humans different?". Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A 136: 47–59. doi:. PMID 14527629, http://nature.berkeley.edu/miltonlab/pdfs/kmilton_micronutrient.pdf.
- ^ a b c d Abuissa H, O’Keefe JH, Cordain, L (2005). "Realigning our 21st century diet and lifestyle with our hunter-gatherer genetic identity". Directions Psych 25 (special report): SR1–SR10, http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Dir%20Psych%202005.pdf.
- ^ Eaton, S. Boyd; Cordain, Loren; & Sebastian, Anthony (2007). "The Ancestral Biomedical Environment (PDF)". in Aird, William C.. Endothelial Biomedicine, Cambridge University Press. pp. 129–34. ISBN 0521853761.
- ^ Eaton SB, Eaton SB (2003 Sep). "An evolutionary perspective on human physical activity: implications for health". Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 136 (1): 153–9. doi:. PMID 14527637.
- ^ Cordain, L., Gotshall, R.W. and Eaton, S.B. (1998 Jul). "Physical activity, energy expenditure and fitness: an evolutionary perspective". Int J Sports Med 19 (5): 328–335. doi:. PMID 9721056, http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Int%20J%20Sport%20Article.pdf.
- ^ Cordain, L., Gotshall, R.W., Eaton, S.B. (1997). "Evolutionary aspects of exercise". World Rev Nutr Diet 81: 49–60. PMID 9287503, http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Exercise%20&%20Evolution.pdf.
References
- Naugler, Christopher T. (September 2008). "Evolutionary medicine: Update on the relevance to family practice". Canadian Family Physician (College of Family Physicians of Canada) 54 (9): 1265-1269, http://www.cfp.ca/cgi/content/full/54/9/1265.
- Stearns, S. C., and J. K. Koella. 2007. Evolution in Health and Disease, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Trevathan, W. R. 2008. Evolutionary Medicine, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, New York.
- O’Higgins, P., and S. Elton. Medicine and Evolution: Current Applications, Future Prospects: Society for the Study of Human Biology, v. 48. Taylor and Francis, London (in press).
- Randolph M. Nesse, Stephen C. Stearns (2008) The great opportunity: Evolutionary applications to medicine and public health Evolutionary Applications 1 (1), 28–48 doi:10.1111/j.1752-4571.2007.00006.x
Further reading
- Aird, William C., ed. (2007). Endothelial Biomedicine, Cambridge University Press. pp. 1500 pp.. ISBN 0521853761.
- Childs, B.; Wiener, C.; Valle, D. (2005). "A science of the individual: Implications for a medical school curriculum". Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics 6: 313–330. ISSN 1527-8204.
- Cosmides, L.; Tooby, J. (1999). "Toward an evolutionary taxonomy of treatable conditions". Journal of Abnormal Psychology 108 (3): 453–464. ISSN 0021-843X.
- Ewald, P. W. (1996). Evolution of Infectious Disease. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511139-7.
- LeGrand, E. K.; Brown C. C. (2002). "Darwinian medicine: applications of evolutionary biology for veterinarians". Canadian Veterinary Journal: 556–559. ISSN 0008-5286. PMID 12125190, http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=12125190.
- Moalem, S.; Prince, J.. Survival of the Sickest. New York. ISBN 978-0-06-088965-4.
- Nesse, R. M.; Williams, G. C.. Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine. New York. ISBN 0-679-74674-9.
- Stearns, Stephen C. (1999). Evolution in Health and Disease. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-8504454.
- Stiehm, E. R. (2006). "Disease versus disease: how one disease may ameliorate another". Pediatrics 117 (1): 184–191. doi:. ISSN 0031-4005. PMID 16396876.
- Straub, RH.; Besedovsky, HO. (2003). "Integrated evolutionary, immunological, and neuroendocrine framework for the pathogenesis of chronic disabling inflammatory diseases". Faseb J 17 (15): 2176–2183. PMID 14656978, http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/full/17/15/2176.
- Trevathan, W. R. (1999). Evolutionary Medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510356-4, http://books.google.com/books?id=grrA421tRNkC&hl=en.
- Williams, G. C.; Nesse, R. M. (1991). "The dawn of Darwinian medicine". Quarterly Review of Biology 66 (1): 1–22. ISSN 0033-5770.
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