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Evolutionary health promotion. Eaton SB, Strassman BI, Nesse RM, Neel JV, Ewald PW, Williams GC, Weder AB, Eaton SB 3rd, Lindeberg S, Konner MJ, Mysterud I, Cordain L. Prev Med. 2002 Feb;34(2):109-18. Review. PMID: 11817903 doi:10.1006/pmed.2001.0876

The 'carnivore connection'--evolutionary aspects of insulin resistance. Colagiuri S, Brand Miller J. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2002 Mar;56 Suppl 1:S30-5. Review. PMID: 11965520

"Should you eat low carbohydrate and high saturated fat, or high carbohydrate and low fat, that is the question? This question is causing a tremendous back and forth in the medical and nutrition industry. It is unbelievable that the medical profession has not at least thoroughly tested the question. How is it that a magnificent experiment had been going on for 2.5 million years, the hunter gatherer Paleolithic life. This continued up to and until about about 10,000 years ago, with the advent of agriculture. After that time is when the diseases of the metabolic syndrome started to appear. This information is a matter of history. If a layman like me can recognize the validity of an experiment that continued for 2,5 million years, and produced healthy individuals, relative to the diseases of the metabolic syndrome, such as: obesity, diabetes type 2, cardiovascular disease and stroke, and some cancers to name just a few, then how is it, that the consensus opinion of the medical profession and nutritionists think that the hunter gatherer lifestyle of our ancient ancestors is unhealthful or dangerous? The consensus opinion says that low fat (trim all visible fat from the animal protein) and high carbohydrate food is the "healthy eating" choice for us. I personally know that instead of being healthy,it is unhealthy, because by following my doctors advice over the last 50 years many of the above mentioned diseases started to appear on my charts. "

ScienceDaily (Feb. 12, 2009) - Diet - and how it has shaped our genome - occupies much of an evolutionary scientist's time. Anne Stone, associate professor of anthropology in Arizona State University's School of Human Evolution and Social Change, will discuss how diet holds keys to understanding who we are, how we live and form societies, and how we evolved from hunter-gatherers to agriculturists, all the way to modern urban dwellers, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting.

Robert P. Heaney is John A. Creighton University Professor, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Hominid evolution took place in an environment (equatorial East Africa) that provided a superabundance of both calcium and vitamin D, the first in available foods and the second through conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol to pre-vitamin D in the skin, a reaction catalysed by the intense solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Seemingly as a consequence, the evolving human physiology incorporated provisions to prevent the potential of toxic excesses of both nutrients. For vitamin D the protection was of two sorts: skin pigmentation absorbed the critical UV wavelengths and thereby limited dermal synthesis of cholecalciferol; and slow delivery of vitamin D from the skin into the bloodstream left surplus vitamin in the skin, where continuing sun exposure led to its photolytic degradation to inert compounds. For calcium, the adaptation consisted of very inefficient calcium absorption, together with poor to absent systemic conservation. The latter is reflected in unregulated dermal calcium losses, a high sensitivity of renal obligatory calcium loss to other nutrients in the diet and relatively high quantities of calcium in the digestive secretions. Today, chimpanzees in the original hominid habitat have diets with calcium nutrient densities in the range of 2 to 2.5 mmol per 100 kcal, and hunter-gatherer humans in Africa, South America and New Guinea still have diets very nearly as high in calcium (1.75 to 2 mmol per 100 kcal) (Eaton and Nelson, 1991). With energy expenditure of 3 000 kcal per day (a fairly conservative estimate for a contemporary human doing physical work), such diets would provide substantially in excess of 50 mmol of calcium per day. By contrast, median intake in women in North America and in many European countries today is under 15 mmol per day. Two factors altered the primitive situation: the migration of humans from Africa to higher latitude

Conclusion We demonstrated that the VDRE in the CAMP gene originated from the exaptation of an AluSx SINE in the lineage leading to humans, apes, OWMs and NWMs and remained under purifying selection for the last 55-60 million years. We present convincing evidence of an evolutionarily fixed, Alu-mediated divergence in steroid hormone nuclear receptor gene regulation between humans/primates and other mammals. Evolutionary selection to place the primate CAMP gene under regulation of the vitamin D pathway potentiates the innate immune response and may counter the anti-inflammatory properties of vitamin D. Exaptation of an ancient Alu short interspersed element provides a highly conserved vitamin D-mediated innate immune response in humans and primates. Gombart AF, Saito T, Koeffler HP. BMC Genomics. 2009 Jul 16;10:321. PMID: 19607716 doi:10.1186/1471-2164-10-321

The Paleo Diet is a way of eating in the modern age that best mimics the nutrition of our evolutionary and genetic heritage - the ancestral, Paleolithic diet. For millions of years our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate combinations of lean meat, seafood, plants, fruit, and nuts. But today in America, more than 70% of our dietary calories come from foods that our Paleolithic (Stone Age) ancestors rarely if ever ate ... and that modern humans are not genetically adapted to eat. The result is epidemic levels of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, arthritis, acne, gastrointestinal disease, and more. Professor Loren Cordain is widely acknowledged as a leading expert on the diet of our Paleolithic ancestors.

"Last Wednesday night I gave a lecture to my clients on hunter-gatherer diets. The turnout was great and the information was well-received. I had it professionally video-recorded and will probably offer this as a DVD for sale (with the handout included). Watch for it in the future. Part of what I discussed was vitamin D3 supplementation. Since I have been supplementing with 4,000-10,000 Units of D3 per day I have noted enhanced recovery and size response from my training. Apparently, skeletal muscle has both surface receptors and nuclear receptors for D3 that augment calcium flux during contraction (from surface receptors) and have steroid-like effects at the nuclear level WRT protein synthesis. This D3 supplementation is not really "supplementation" but is instead "augmentation" to levels that would be normal if we got normal sun exposure as we did in our evolutionary past. Check out www.vitamindcouncil.org for more information. Also, check out this abstract below for your consideration. Also, check out this article."

The vitamin D-antimicrobial peptide pathway and its role in protection against infection. Gombart AF. Future Microbiol. 2009 Nov;4:1151-65. PMID: 19895218 Vitamin D deficiency has been correlated with increased rates of infection. Since the early 19th century, both environmental (i.e., sunlight) and dietary sources (cod liver) of vitamin D have been identified as treatments for TB. The recent discovery that vitamin D induces antimicrobial peptide gene expression explains, in part, the 'antibiotic' effect of vitamin D and has greatly renewed interest in the ability of vitamin D to improve immune function. Subsequent work indicates that this regulation is biologically important for the response of the innate immune system to wounds and infection and that deficiency may lead to suboptimal responses toward bacterial and viral infections. The regulation of the cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide gene is a human/primate-specific adaptation and is not conserved in other mammals. The capacity of the vitamin D receptor to act as a high-affinity receptor for vitamin D and a low-affinity receptor for secondary bile acids and potentially other novel nutritional compounds suggests that the evolutionary selection to place the cathelicidin gene under control of the vitamin D receptor allows for its regulation under both endocrine and xenobiotic response systems. Future studies in both humans and humanized mouse models will elucidate the importance of this regulation and lead to the development of potential therapeutic applications

"(NaturalNews) People still don't get it: Vitamin D is the "miracle nutrient" that activates your immune system to defend you against invading microorganisms -- including seasonal flu and swine flu. Two months ago, an important study was published by researchers at Oregon State University. This study reveals something startling: Vitamin D is so crucial to the functioning of your immune system that the ability of vitamin D to boost immune function and destroy invading microorganisms has been conserved in the genome for over 60 million years of evolution. As this press release from Oregon State University (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...) explains: The fact that this vitamin-D mediated immune response has been retained through millions of years of evolutionary selection, and is still found in species ranging from squirrel monkeys to baboons and humans, suggests that it must be critical to their survival, researchers say. "The existence and importance of this part of our immune response makes it clear that humans and other primates need to maintain sufficient levels of vitamin D," said Adrian Gombart, an associate professor of biochemistry and a principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University."

What is PāNu? PāNu is an approach to living centered on the thesis that the diseases of civilization are largely related to abandonment of the metabolic conditions we evolved under - what I have termed the "evolutionary metabolic milieu" - EM2. Returning to EM2 is not based on paleolithic food re-enactment. You don't have to eat bugs or wooly mammoths. Unlike many popular "diets", it doesn't require a calculator, or even a recipe book once you learn some basic science about food.

"Peter at Hyperlipid and Stephan at Whole Health have dispelled yet again myths regarding the indictment of the 16:0 long-chained saturated fatty acid Palmitic Acid as the prime instigator of insulin resistance (IR). Researchers are always wrong -- it's... HIGH CARBS PLUS Palmitic acid. Their brilliant posts discuss below: --Sportzaid (FRUCTOSE) + Palmitate = IR RETARDNESS --High Carb Lab Chow + Palmitate = IR in the brain Yes. Such inferences applied to low carbers (LCers) is pure ridiculousness. Non-applicable. Low/no carb + Palmitic Acid = GOOD THING. All the low-carb/high saturated fat (palmitic acid) and ketosis trials by Hays JH, Volek JS, and Krauss RM have shown reductions in blood insulin, blood glucoses (BG) and peripheral tissue insulin resistance (IR). Directly contrary to the high carb animal or human studies. Palmitic acid has a special evolutionary, adaptive role in mammalian metabolism. Stephan showed that it likely 'fills in' when blood glucose starts to decline. "

ScienceDaily (Feb. 12, 2009) - That irresistible craving for a cheeseburger has its roots in the dramatic growth of the human brain and body that resulted from environmental changes some 2 million years ago.

Vitamin D and Prevention of Chronic Diseases. A presentation by professor Michael F. Holick

What Is Appendicitis? How to diagnose Appendicitis? Where is Appendix pain located In this article, we hope you can find all of your answers related to Appendicitis. We covered everything about Appendicitis. We discussed types, causes, symptoms, tests, and treatment of Appendicitis.

Appendicitis is an inflammation of the appendix, which is a small tube of intestinal tissue that projects from the large intestine. While the appendix does not seem to have a particular function, one theory suggests that it acts as a storehouse of good bacteria and boosts immunity after diarrheal illness. However, some experts believe the appendix is just a purposeless remnant from our evolutionary past. One thing we're sure of is that we can live without it, without any apparent consequences.

Hiccups are an uncontrollable reflex of the human body. What exactly goes on within the body to generate this weird sound is highly debated. The fact that hiccups can be heard and seen from fetuses suggests that the central circuit involved in producing hiccups...

Hiccups are unwanted contractions of the diaphragm - the muscle that participates in breathing. Although evolutionary scientists have a few theories, the exact cause and purpose of hiccups is unknown. They remain a unique and age-old feature of the human physiology that continues to elude scientists to this day.