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Environments, adaptation and evolutionary medicine: should we be eating a ‘Stone Age’ diet?

Elton, E.

Environments, adaptation and evolutionary medicine: should we be eating a ‘Stone Age’ diet? Thumbnail


Authors



Contributors

P. O’Higgins
Editor

Abstract

A central tenet of evolutionary or Darwinian medicine is that many chronic diseases and degenerative conditions evident in modern Western populations have arisen because of a mismatch between ‘Stone Age’ genes and recently-adopted lifestyles [1 – 5]. In a nutshell, genes or traits that may have been selectively advantageous or neutral in the past are argued to be potentially deleterious within the context of industrialisation and modernization. Some suggest that this mismatch can be extended even further back in time, to the widespread adoption of agriculture [5]. It is believed that chronic and degenerative conditions persist at such high levels in many populations because the rate at which selection operates is not sufficient to respond to the current pace of cultural and environmental change [1, 5]. In other words, it is thought by many advocates of evolutionary medicine that our environments are evolving faster than we are.

Citation

Elton, E. (2008). Environments, adaptation and evolutionary medicine: should we be eating a ‘Stone Age’ diet?. In P. O’Higgins, & S. Elton (Eds.), Medicine and evolution: current applications, future prospects (9-34). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420051377.ch2

Publication Date 2008
Deposit Date May 20, 2013
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Pages 9-34
Series Title Society for the Study of Human Biology Series
Book Title Medicine and evolution: current applications, future prospects.
Chapter Number 2
ISBN 9781420051346
DOI https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420051377.ch2

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This material is strictly for personal use only. For any other use, the user must contact Taylor & Francis directly at this address: & Francis directly at this address: permissions.mailbox@taylorandfrancis.com. Printing, photocopying, sharing via any means is a violation of copyright.
Copyright © 2008. From Medicine and evolution: current applications, future prospects by Paul O'Higgins and Sarah Elton. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.





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