Human evolution can't cope with fast food, say scientists

Ananova ^ | October 22, 2003 | Unknown

[HarleyD]

Calorie-packed fast food encourages over-eating and weight gain because it is out of step with human evolution, scientists have said.

They pointed out that humans are designed for conditions in which food is relatively scarce and low in energy.

But fast food from take-aways and convenience stores is typically energy dense. You do not need to eat much of it to consume a lot of calories.

The result is people accidentally over-eat without feeling particularly full.

Nutrition experts Professor Andrew Prentice and Dr Susan Jebb highlighted the problem by combining British and African diet study data with information on the ingredients in fast food.

Professor Prentice, head of the Medical Research Council's International Nutrition Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "We all possess a weak innate ability to recognise foods with a high energy density. We tend to assess food intake by the size of the portion, yet a fast food meal contains many more calories than a similar-sized portion of a healthy meal.

"Since the dawn of agriculture, the systems regulating human appetite have evolved for the low energy diet still being consumed in rural areas of the developing world where obesity is almost non-existent.

"Our bodies were never designed to cope with the very energy dense foods consumed in the West and this is contributing to a major rise in obesity."

The World Health Organisation estimates there are 300 million obese people worldwide.

In England, obesity rates have trebled in the past 25 years. Experts predict that by the end of the decade three in 10 UK adults will be obese.

[Lazamataz]

Posters seem to want to jump on this article for ulterior purposes - evolution vs. creation, the potential for lawsuits, government regulation, etc. If we confine ourselves to the science of the article itself, I think it makes a pretty compelling case.

Well I would, but I think this article points out the dangers of gas-guzzling SUV's on the ecosystem of rain forests, and their potential to cause HIV in Africa very nicely. Don't you think that Free Trade would lower the number of SUV's in America, causing global warming to be reversed, and increasing the number of jobs in India?

Scott Peterson thinks Terry Schiavo should be visited by Elian Gonzales.

[adam_az]

Fast Food chains should pony up billions, we should go back to a simpler (ie "sustainable") lifestyle (except for them, of course), and fuel taxes should increase the price of gas to $5 per gallon.

I must have missed that part of the article? Which paragraph was that in?

[adam_az]

It's not evolution that they are talking about. It's adaptation. The reason they confuse one with another is to confuse somthing that does happen with something else that never happened.

Don't worry, since the earth is flat, too, those of us who think the theory of Evolution holds some water will fall off the end of the earth when we foolishly journey too far from home.

[adam_az]

21 posted on 10/22/2003 10:54 AM MDT by Lazamataz (I am the extended middle finger in the fist of life.)

More like the gold painted pinkey ring attached to the plaid clad, oft chastized yet oft patronized used car salesman of life. ;)

[ml/nj]

Don't worry, since the earth is flat, too, those of us who think the theory of Evolution holds some water will fall off the end of the earth when we foolishly journey too far from home.

I'm sure you know what you meant.

ML/NJ

[adam_az]

I'm sure that you know that I know that you know what I meant. You know?

[Guillermo]

It's the underlying theme.

[adam_az]

How do you figure? This is an article particularly about the UK, and it seems to blame the consumer for making poor choices. Can you point out which specific parts imply this to you, or are you so hot and bothered by the fast food lawsuits that you see conspiracy in everyhing? Imagine that, a Freeper seeing conspiracies everywhere! That's a first. ;)

[r9etb]

None of this 'we were designed to evolve' crap allowed

Why not?

[Guillermo]

Settle down, freak.

Don't be too surprised to see this study appearing on the CSPI website by weeks end.

[adam_az]

Is it the underlying theme, or will it be misused and misinterpreted by nutjobs?

Make up your mind.

[Guillermo]

Both.

That's how it always works.

[hunter112]

What does the UN have to gain by taking out McD/BK/TacoB et al?

Gives them a reason to exist, because they can't tell the truth on any other world health threats, such as: Screwing everything in sight has caused the spread of AIDS in Africa, or: Socialism prevents the spread of good medicine to the Third World.

They have to find something to yak about. But SamAdams, you have a good point to make, too. Human beings were shaped to deal with the scarcity of foodstuffs, our successes at providing calories to so many demands that we develop personal responsibility in the consumption of them. The problem comes in how to encourage that without legislating it.

[whattajoke]

ping

[PatrickHenry]

Scott Peterson thinks Terry Schiavo should be visited by Elian Gonzales.

You left out Gary Condit.

[PatrickHenry]

Comic relief. [This ping list is for the evolution side of evolution threads, and sometimes for other science topics. FReepmail me to be added or dropped.]

[AdmSmith]

It is not the fast food, it is mainly the sugar in the food that is the problem: sugar intake => increase in insulin => reduction of glucose AND reduced break down of fat => hunger when the glucose level reduces and then there is more sugar intake etc.

The result is an oscillating level of insulin vs glucose and increased food intake.

Ask a patient with a mild form of diabetes Type 2 what happened to his/her weight when he/she started to control the sugar intake.

[RightWhale]

We evolved to design . . . fast food joints.

[B Knotts]

They pointed out that humans are designed for conditions in which food is relatively scarce and low in energy.

Uh...yeah...'cause humans originally ate lots of wild whole-wheat bread...

I call B.S. on this study.

Humans used to eat stuff like bugs and berries. Not exactly low energy food, I'd say.

[AdmSmith]

Furtermore we used to eat a lot of nuts, but nowadays they are abundant in left wing magazines.