A Civilization Intent on Eating Itself into an Early Grave

If the successes in technological development achieved over the past few hundred years is teaching us anything, perhaps it should be that individual members of a species that evolved in an environment of pervasive scarcity and intermittent famine are not well equipped for an environment of consistent plenty. Our biochemistry and our instincts lead us astray: eat too many calories and life expectancy and long-term health will suffer for it. This is not new. We are no different from our ancestors in this aspect of the human condition. The change lies in the fact that we now live in an age so wealthy and capable that consistent overeating is affordable for a majority of the global population. Since people, on average, tend to follow their incentives in the short term rather than in the long term, the result is a very rapid growth in lifestyle diseases. Visceral fat tissue doesn't care that you think it is hard to avoid. Maybe it is hard. But that doesn't change the choice, or the fact that it is a choice: choose to eat less, or choose to suffer the consequences resulting from the visceral fat tissue that you gain. That means greater lifetime medical expenditures, more years of chronic age-related disease, more disability, and a younger death than those who did managed to stay slim. Visceral fat tissue interacts with the immune system to generate chronic inflammation, and may increase the burden of senescent cells that also contribute to inflammation. Inflammation accelera...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs