3 replies to this topic

[.fonclea.]

My little theory is probably completely wrong but I'd like to know what you think about.
Depending on where people live, they develop a proper diet, culinary traditions, also developed with the cultivations of certain types of fruits, fishing… and so on since ages.



Environment is naturally well balanced and men are just part of the puzzle.



I don't think there are good or bad diets (CR, vegetarians, meat eater,…) the things who work for me won't work for you. Plus we all have our "baggage génétique".


I don't consider healthy to adapt a diet from a region for yourself when you are not currently living there and you are physiologically different: for instance a Norwegian who follows a Cretan diet just because he read about the benefits. World food it's funny but if I had to live in Norway, a nice salad with olive oil is not energetic enough to resist to the cold….. The physical needs are not the same.



Could Cancer or obesity be the consequences of deficiencies?






Thanks,
I don't express my though in english well, hope you understand the idea i tried to develop.

[HereInTheHole]

I don't consider healthy to adapt a diet from a region for yourself when you are not currently living there and you are physiologically different: for instance a Norwegian who follows a Cretan diet just because he read about the benefits. World food it's funny but if I had to live in Norway, a nice salad with olive oil is not energetic enough to resist to the cold….. The physical needs are not the same.

That's an interesting idea -- similar to the idea that lighter skin tones are adaptations to darker parts of the world. Your idea definitely seems possible. My suspicion, though, is that we are much more alike than different in this way, because the majority of our evolution took place in a common area: Africa. The dietary differences that you see might be too recent to have had an impact on our genetics. Or maybe not if the skin tone idea is also correct.

One difficulty in figuring out the truth of your idea is in separating the physiological needs from the environmental demands. If it's mostly physiological, a Cretan in Norway would still need the Cretan diet to maintain optimal health. To separate what's most important, it seems you'd have to study populations that have moved to a different area with a different diet.

Your English is fine. You automatically get huge credit just for posting on a forum in something other than your primary language.

Edited by NarrativiumX, 19 December 2008 - 09:22 PM.

[rwac]

I don't consider healthy to adapt a diet from a region for yourself when you are not currently living there and you are physiologically different: for instance a Norwegian who follows a Cretan diet just because he read about the benefits. World food it's funny but if I had to live in Norway, a nice salad with olive oil is not energetic enough to resist to the cold….. The physical needs are not the same.

That's an interesting idea -- similar to the idea that lighter skin tones are adaptations to darker parts of the world. Your idea definitely seems possible. My suspicion, though, is that we are much more alike than different in this way, because the majority of our evolution took place in a common area: Africa. The dietary differences that you see might be too recent to have had an impact on our genetics. Or maybe not if the skin tone idea is also correct.

One difficulty in figuring out the truth of your idea is in separating the physiological needs from the environmental demands. If it's mostly physiological, a Cretan in Norway would still need the Cretan diet to maintain optimal health. To separate what's most important, it seems you'd have to study populations that have moved to a different area with a different diet.

Your English is fine. You automatically get huge credit just for posting on a forum in something other than your primary language.

Actually, certain things are due to dietary differences.
Case in point: Lactose tolerance.

Sweden has very low rates of lactose intolerance because they used to depend on milk.

China apparently has low tolerance because they don't drink much milk.

[Skötkonung]

That's an interesting idea -- similar to the idea that lighter skin tones are adaptations to darker parts of the world. Your idea definitely seems possible. My suspicion, though, is that we are much more alike than different in this way, because the majority of our evolution took place in a common area: Africa. The dietary differences that you see might be too recent to have had an impact on our genetics. Or maybe not if the skin tone idea is also correct.

I think that if evolution has shaped people's dietary needs to their region of origin (I'm not sure if I phrased this correctly?), then the differences would likely be minimal.

Evidence of evolutionary adaption to regional diets can be seen in lactose intolerance statistics that varies per ethnicity and regional history of consuming dairy. Also Type 2 diabetes statistics, where ethnicities that have not been consuming grain or sugar for very long, tend to suffer the most. For example, people of Native American ancestry have some of the highest rates of diabetes and lactose intolerance. Same with people of African ancestry. Maybe these illnesses are the result of sociological and cultural differences, but from the research I have reviewed, some genetic component does seem to be involved.