How the Western Diet Has Derailed Our Evolution
November 14th, 2015Via: Nautilus:
Many who study the microbiome suspect that we are experiencing an extinction spasm within that parallels the extinction crisis gripping the planet. Numerous factors are implicated in these disappearances. Antibiotics, available after World War II, can work like napalm, indiscriminately flattening our internal ecosystems. Modern sanitary amenities, which began in the late 19th century, may limit sharing of disease- and health-promoting microbes alike. Today’s houses in today’s cities seal us away from many of the soil, plant, and animal microbes that rained down on us during our evolution, possibly limiting an important source of novelty.
But what the Sonnenburgs’ experiment suggests is that by failing to adequately nourish key microbes, the Western diet may also be starving them out of existence. They call this idea “starving the microbial self.” They suspect that these diet-driven extinctions may have fueled, at least in part, the recent rise of non-communicable diseases. The question they and many others are now asking is this: How did the microbiome of our ancestors look before it was altered by sanitation, antibiotics, and junk food? How did that primeval collection of human microbes work? And was it somehow healthier than the one we harbor today?
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No one understands much about the dizzying variety documented so far—which microbes are good, which harmful, which irrelevant. One constant, though, is that people living subsistence lifestyles have tremendous diversity compared to westernized populations—up to 50 percent more species than North Americans or Europeans. That includes not only bacteria but eukaryotes—single-cell protists and large, multicellular worms. These organisms, which are often missing in the West, have historically been considered pathogens. But some evidence now suggests that they can favorably shape the microbiome, benefiting the host.
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The Sonnenburgs think fiber is so important that they’ve given it a new designation: microbiota-accessible carbohydrates, or MACs. They think that the mismatch between the Westernized, MAC-starved microbiome and the human genome may predispose to Western diseases.
Scientists studying these communities suspect that while mortality is high from infectious diseases, chronic, non-communicable diseases are far less prevalent. At the same time, researchers since the late 20th century have repeatedly observed that even in the West, people who grow up on farms with livestock, or exposed to certain fecal-oral infections, like Hepatitis A and sundry parasites—environments that, in their relative microbial enrichment, resemble these subsistence communities—have a lower risk of certain Western afflictions, particularly hay fever, asthma, and certain autoimmune disorders.
Research Credit: Pookie
While I have no doubt that we’ve decimated our microbiome with the modern diet, focusing only on diet, we still ignore the 80,000 untested chemicals in our food, air, water, homes, cars, etc.
That said, here’s an interesting article on the possible 4th domain, lurking in our gut:
Scientists say mystery ‘fourth domain’ may be lurking inside us all
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3317569/Does-gut-contain-entirely-new-form-life-Scientists-say-mystery-fourth-domain-lurking-gut.html
Do gut bacteria rule our minds?
In an ecosystem within us, microbes evolved to sway food choices
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-08
/uoc–dgb081514.php
In the gut, immunity is a two-way street
http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?libid=19059
Most of us certainly don’t need to wait for expensive, patented solutions. We can simply change our diet.
Dr van Tulleken decided to see how effective the fibre in oats is
After six weeks of eating tons of porridge, the results were compelling
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2471095/Forget-trendy-probiotic-drinks–just-eat-porridge.html
One more creepy/interesting article:
Bacterial ‘aura’ surrounding our bodies is as unique as a fingerprint…and is full of skin and gas
By sampling this microbial mist, it is possible to tell whether it has been emitted by a man or a woman – and even who it belongs to
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3244722/What-s-microbial-cloud-Bacterial-aura-surrounding-bodies-unique-fingerprint.html
I’m in the middle of reading ‘Evolution 2.0’ which talks, among many other things, of the importance of horizontal gene transfer between organisms as a means of acquiring new sets of genetic instructions in order to facilitate rapid adaptation to altered environmental challenges. After reading the Nautilus article, I began to wonder if, as well as serving the more well-known symbiotic purposes, the huge number and variety of bacteria we carry around serve as a form of gene storage, a library we carry around with us full of information we can use if need be.
From Tal’s porridge article: ” For every one of your human genes, you have 200 bacterial genes.