THE OBESE APE
The human evolution and the diseases of the opulence: Obesity, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis. The point of view of the darwinian or evolutive medicine on insulin resistence and the Metabolic Syndrome
Barcelona, Spain .
Summary
Evolutionary or Darwinian medicine takes the view that many contemporary ills are related to incompatibility between the lifestyles and environments in which human currently live and the condition under which human biology evolved. Most human evolution took place when our ancestors were gatherer-hunters, so many of the characteristics and behaviours that evolved in our evolutionary history had adaptative significance then, but may even be maladaptative today.
An example is our ability to quickly and easily store fat, that make us the most fatted primate, the “Obese Ape”. In the past, that ability would have been favourably selected (Thrifty genotype) because thrifty genes could increase the efficiency of energy extraction (nutrition) of scarce resource from their environments. During times of plenty more energy was stored by those with this predisposition than in those without.
Today the phenotypes who carry these thrifty genes are now being exposed to sedentary lifestyles, fat-rich and fibre-poor diets. What was selectively advantageous in the past environment, is now for most people in industrialized countries a pathological condition. The result is obesity, diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.
In conclusion: from the point of view of the Evolutionary Medicine, obesity and the other components of the Metabolic Syndrome may be the consequence of a lack of fit of humankind’s “Stone age genes” with our technological “Space Age” lifestyle.
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