On 26/9/2007 12:57 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote: > I wrote: > >> All prehistoric people in natural circumstances were thin. > > Except probably not people in the far north in seasons when game was > plentiful. I believe there is evidence they ate themselves fat, the > way bears, deer, and other animals do before winter, in a good year > when food is plentiful. This is not hard to do when you live near a > river with migrating salmon, for example. Primitive people (not > prehistoric, but people with tools and agriculture and some social > structure) sometimes starved to death, but in other cases they were > fortunate enough to be fat. Premodern Inuit people were often seasonably fat. > > - Jed >
>From an evolutionary perspective, if obesity is so bad for us, why has it not been eliminated by natural selection? Well the ability to pack on the pounds was an advantage since food was usually scarce. Here is another paradox. If diabetes is bad why hasn't it been eliminated by natural selection? A theory has been proposed that diabetes was advantageous in cold climates, because higher concentrations of sugar reduces the chances of getting frostbite. Harry
