By Ian Graber-Stiehl
PEOPLE in a south American desert have evolved to detoxify potentially deadly arsenic that laces their water supply.
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PEOPLE in a south American desert have evolved to detoxify potentially deadly arsenic that laces their water supply.
Why is it that some people can stay healthy only by sticking to a strict vegetarian diet? Why is it that others can eat a steak a day, remain slim, avoid heart disease and feel like a million dollars? The answers may lie in your heritage.
Cornell University researchers have found a fascinating genetic variation that they said appears to have evolved in populations that favored vegetarian diets over hundreds of generations. The geography of the vegetarian allele is vast and includes people from India, Africa and parts of East Asia who are known to have green diets even today.
The vegetarian allele evolved in populations that have eaten a plant-based diet over hundreds of generations. The adaptation allows these people to efficiently process omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and convert them into compounds essential for early brain development and controlling inflammation. In populations that live on plant-based diets, this genetic variation provided an advantage and was positively selected in those groups.
The vegetarian allele evolved in populations that have eaten a plant-based diet over hundreds of generations.
Helpinghands wrote:I remember reading somewhere and I'll be darned if I can remember where the number was twenty generations to adapt to a particular food environment.
dynodan62 wrote:Helpinghands wrote:I remember reading somewhere and I'll be darned if I can remember where the number was twenty generations to adapt to a particular food environment.
There is genetic adaptation, and then there is environmental adaptation, the latter always occurring within an existing generation. Genes only load the gun.
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