- Anything Else -
Jared Diamond
Posted by: Nikhil Jaikumar ( DSA, MA, USA ) on September 13, 1999 at 00:51:58:
In Reply to: Your guess is as good as mine posted by Darya on September 09, 1999 at 22:58:14:
I suspect that you all are somewhat overestimating the impact of "genetics", 'ethnic" background, etc. on what makes for a healthy diet. For example, the Thais (acoording to DDN), Japanese and Keralites all enjoy long lifespans on a pretty similar diet of rice, fish and vegetables, in spite of coming form very different genetic backgrounds. (I hesitate to use the word 'race' because it has little biological validity.) The Keralites, however, also eat plenty of high-fat coconuts, which are recognized to be very bad for the heart- just adds to the puzzle. There are a few exceptions, for example Native Americans are believed to be especially susceptible to alcohol poisoning (forgive me if thsi is a bit dated, it might be), the Pima Indians are more vulnerable to a high-fat diet, many Africans can't digest milk, etc. But still, these variations seem to be fairly minor. Probably the best solution is to eat a high-protein, high-carbohydrate, low fat diet and exercise a lot. Incidentally, the diet that emphasizes carbohydrates over protein (e.g. the typical 'primitive agricultural' diet) causes a wide variety of nutrition problems. The invention of agriculture, previously seen as a 'progressive' innovation, is now believed by some to have marked a step backwards in terms of average nutrition and health; as societies became agricultural their consumption of protein and vitaminbs dropped, and people became smaller, weaker, more plagued by bone and tooth problems, etc. See "Rise and Fall of teh Third Chimpanzee" by Jared Diamond (UCLA physiologist, ecologist, New Guinea explorer, and graduate of my high school) for more. --
McSpotlight: "Guns, Germs and Steel" is a good book as well...(also by the above)
Follow Ups:
|