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Author Topic: Example of genetic/epigenetic adaptation to food  (Read 2228 times)

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Offline TylerDurden

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Example of genetic/epigenetic adaptation to food
« on: February 25, 2017, 12:26:35 am »
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4252110/Atacama-desert-people-evolve-ability-drink-poison.html

I vaguely recall(?)some past online mention of how 19th century Austrian peasants had managed to develop a resistance to arsenic due to living in arsenic-contaminated soils, so that they could take at least twice the lethal dose of arsenic before suffering any effects.
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Offline Iguana

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Re: Example of genetic/epigenetic adaptation to food
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2017, 10:37:33 pm »
Interesting.

As the article mentions, the natural selection has been quick because those who could not deal with the poison have died before being able to reproduce. This hasn't been the case with Neolithic and cooked foods because the troubles induced and death happen late in the lifetime, leaving enough time for reproduction.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2017, 10:54:57 pm by Iguana »
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Cause and effect are distant in time and space in complex systems, while at the same time there’s a tendency to look for causes near the events sought to be explained. Time delays in feedback in systems result in the condition where the long-run response of a system to an action is often different from its short-run response. — Ronald J. Ziegler

Offline TylerDurden

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Re: Example of genetic/epigenetic adaptation to food
« Reply #2 on: February 26, 2017, 04:06:21 am »
Well, the toxins derived from cooking have been a factor in the incidence of miscarriages and birth-defects. One other point:- while cooking has been going on a while, even urban populations in cities until c.1900 often had access to plenty of  fermented foods and raw foods such as raw milk etc. Plus, a number of excessive-cooking methods  such as  frying/microwaving are more modern phenomenons.
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Offline Iguana

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Re: Example of genetic/epigenetic adaptation to food
« Reply #3 on: February 26, 2017, 06:20:18 am »
I should have added " leaving enough time for reproduction" in most cases.
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Cause and effect are distant in time and space in complex systems, while at the same time there’s a tendency to look for causes near the events sought to be explained. Time delays in feedback in systems result in the condition where the long-run response of a system to an action is often different from its short-run response. — Ronald J. Ziegler
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