Let me explain this to you more clear. I had some health problems and the doctor put in a stent. After an operation they put you in what they call physical rehabilitation. That is where they teach you about DIET< EXERCISE< STRESS CONTROL. The reason is so that you can deal with the CAUSE of health problems. IF I follow their program chances are I will not have any further complications and I will not need any further surgery, IE I will not need to have any more stents. The insurance pays for this program because in the long run it saves them money to educate people.
When I was sitting through the many classes that the dietitian was teaching on nutrition and the most healthy diet to eat I had some questions about evolution. So I came here and have been trying to get the evolutionists on this board to answer my questions about nutrition and evolution.
The leading cause of death in America is the plaque builds up in the walls of the arteries. They tell me that a low fat diet can be very effecting in preventing the progression of this disease or even reversing the disease. Even if it takes a lifetime to build up enough plaque to cause health problems. Although with the very poor high fat, high sugar, high salt diet in American even Children are staring to show signs of Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes and Cancer is also increasing. All diseases that can be controlled through diet and behavior modification. This is the direction that science and medicine is heading in right now.
My question is, where is the evolutionist? What is their contribution to what medicine and science is doing right now to help eliminate disease and give people a better quality of life.
If you don't know what role evolution plays in medical science, I would encourage you to simply google the topic and learn on your own. You will find a boatload of material to study.
I have an advanced degree in human physiology and have studied cardiovascular disease at the graduate level and some of my professors were cardiologists.
It is true, that certain plaques build up in the vessels that cause heart disease, but there are far more risk factors than simple diet. Furthermore, the more studies that are being done, are starting to see that fat in the diet, is not as bad as we once thought. There are people in other countries, that eat more fat than those in the United States and have lower incidences of heart disease, so there is much more to it than simple diet.
Genetics plays a large role and genetics is the prime driver in HDL levels, which is the good cholesterol who's job it is to get the bad cholesterol (LDL) out of the blood. One can consume a low fat diet and still have low levels of HDL and they will be at more risk, than another person who eats a higher fat diet and his a better ration of HDL vs LDL. Exercise is another key piece, and sedentary lifestyles was finally acknowledged as a major risk factor to heart disease fairly recently, along with;
High blood pressure
Being over weight
Smoking
Stress
Bad cholesterol ratios
Diabetes
If you had to pick one activity that had the most positive impact on the above, it is exercise, since it keeps weight down, increases insulin sensativity, helps control stress and blood pressure and can also have some impact on HDL levels. The right type of exercise for long enough periods of time, also strengthen the heart and cardiovascular system and can actually create additional means of blood flow to the heart, that reduces the risk of a cardiac event.
The main problem in the United States, is we have become more sedentary, with people sitting behind computers all day and we actually eat less fat than decades ago, but consume more sugar, which is the real dietary problem.
