The aim of this research is to discover the links of the Western diet with non-communicable diseases and to determine whether a return to the Paleolithic way of eating will provide treatment and prevention of these diseases. This research provides insight into the impact of processed food, fast food, and biochemical processes in the human body to uncover the effects of diet on disease. The daily food choices of the average modern person differ greatly from those of the Paleolithic era.
According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report, million Americans (9.3% of the population) had diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association (2014), diabetes is considered one of the top seven risk factors for cardiovascular disease. By eating a healthy diet similar to that of the Paleolithic period, some cancers can be prevented (National, 2015).
The end of the Paleolithic period was marked by the beginning of agriculture, which revolutionized the way food was obtained. Aptly stated, “socially we are people of the 21st century, but genetically we remain citizens of the Paleolithic” (O'Keefe & Cordain, 2004).
THE PALEOLITHIC DIET
Depending on the location and time of year, you could pick vegetables and fruits that grow in the wild. Proponents of the Paleolithic diet believe that because of this, humans did not fully evolve to eat and properly digest the foods of the Western diet. The sickle cell gene is caused by a single amino acid mutation in the beta chain of the gene for hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen through the bloodstream.
Thus, the sickle cell trait kept populations in the African tropics healthy throughout their reproductive years. The benefits of the Paleolithic Diet are the nutrient-dense food groups that provide macromolecules such as lean proteins, monounsaturated and. These macromolecules work to boost the immune system and energy efficiency of the human body.
To test the potential impact of the Paleolithic diet, researchers conducted a randomized controlled single-blind pilot study on a group of people in the Netherlands with metabolic syndrome (MetS) to determine and compare the effects of the Paleolithic diet with a reference diet (based on the healthy eating guidelines of the Dutch Health Council). As seen in a study conducted by Boers et al. 2014), improved lipid profiles, unintended weight loss, decreased systolic blood pressure (BP) measurements, decreased cholesterol levels, and decreased insulin resistance are some of the promising results.
THE MODERN, WESTERN DIET
Today, there is a fast food restaurant for almost every type of food: fried chicken, Southwestern food, donuts, etc. Everywhere one goes, there is a fast food restaurant: street vendors, food trucks, delivery services, sports arenas, gas stations and convenience stores. Fast food has become an industry that employs more than 3.7 million people worldwide with a total of more than 600,000 stores (McDonald's, 2015).
Although the success of fast food companies boosts the American economy, it harms the health of our children. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is highly likely that the marketing of fast food is contributing to obesity in American children. In the same study, children still preferred foods marketed as McDonald's over unbranded foods even though some of the foods presented were from McDonald's, but the branding had been removed (Robinson et al., 2007).
Since fast food is linked to obesity, low-income people are more likely to become obese (French et al., 2000; Jeffery & French, 1998). Processed foods are classified into one of three groups based on the extent and purpose of the industrial processing carried out: unprocessed and minimally processed foods (Group 1), processed culinary or food industry ingredients (Group 2), and ultra-processed food products (Group 3) (Monteiro et al., 2010). The common food items of this group are starches and flours, oils and fats, salt, and sugar and sweeteners (including high-fructose corn syrup) (Montiero et al., 2010).
A separate study found that about 70% of the American diet is from processed foods (Poti et al., 2015). Collectively known as Big Food, these corporations spend large sums of money on advertising and marketing (especially to children) to promote their ultra-processed products (Montiero et al., 2012; Hawkes et al., 2010; Rayner et al. al., 2006). These corporations go to great lengths to avoid regulation with front groups (groups that represent an exclusive agenda while actually serving another interest whose sponsorship is hidden), government lobbyists, lawsuits against regulatory-focused entities, and promises blank for self-adjustment. Montiero et al., 2013).
Fortunately for these companies, consumers spend at least 20% of their income on food (Malik et al. 2010). For example, ultra-processed food and beverage companies publicly promote physical activity or causes such as cancer research (Moodie et al., 2013). In this strategy, there are many conflicts of interest between the promotion and protection of public health and the large food companies that profit from unhealthy choices (Moodie et al., 2013).
DISEASES OF CIVILIZATION
Regardless of the progress in the prevention of infectious diseases and the increase in life expectancy, the incidence of heart disease and cancer is incredibly worrying. In contrast, countries that have not yet been westernized maintain a low incidence of the diseases of civilization. The prevalence of obesity is a significant marker of the likelihood that a person may suffer from one of the diseases of civilization.
Modern Americans nearly doubled the thickness of the tricipital skinfold of hunter-gatherer populations (Figure 3-4) (Carrera-Bastos et al., 2011; . Eaton et al., 1988). One mouse possessed a double knockout of the gene that produces the leptin product, ob/ob. The second mouse possessed a double knockout of the gene that produces the leptin receptor protein, db/db.
Leptin was found to make liver and muscle cells more sensitive to insulin. The peptide hormone, PYY3-36, is secreted into the intestinal mucosa in response to food intake. Diabetes, currently the 7th leading cause of death in the United States, affects about 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3% of the population, according to data collected by the American Diabetes Association in 2012.
The body is no longer able to efficiently use the energy used (high blood glucose), so the patient suffers from increased fat storage (maintenance of efficient fat storage in adipose tissue due to insulin). Heart disease, collectively known as heart disease, is currently the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for more than 600,000 deaths in 2014. In a side reaction, a cis-fatty acid accepts a hydrogen, resulting in a displaced double bond configuration and the formation of a trans-fatty acid .
There are several types of SFAs, such as stearate, laurate, myristate, and palmitate, which differ only in the length of the fatty acid tail, to name a few (Ramsden et al., 2009, p. 293). According to the CDC, approximately 20.3 million adults have developed cancer—8.5% of the United States population. Obese patients are at increased risk of breast, colon, prostate, endometrial, kidney and gallbladder cancers – further linking diet and cancer (National, 2015).
Further association between the Western diet and breast cancer is associated with the early onset of menarche and puberty. Based on the consequences of the Western diet (increased risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer), actions taken to change these harmful habits can have a positive effect on the occurrence of the diseases of civilization.
CONCLUSION
A typical working person might wake up early, get coffee at their local Starbucks, eat a packed lunch in the conference room, and get home in time to order pizza or heat up dinner. frozen. It's about sacrificing important things like healthy meals and rest for the constant desire to succeed. According to Eaton and Konner in 1985, "the profound changes in diet and lifestyle that occurred after the Neolithic Revolution are too recent on an evolutionary time scale for the human genome to have fully adapted." This is based on "thrifty".
Proposed teaching the benefits of whole, natural and unprocessed foods in public schools would instill a healthy relationship with food at a young age. Public literature on the effects of processed foods and other foods characteristic of the Western diet should be prominently published and widely distributed to the general public. Citizens should have the right to be informed about the harmful effects of Western diet foods.
The United States and other Westernized countries are in the midst of a public health crisis that has emerged during the most abundant century in human history. Retrieved from http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/blood-glucose-control/checking-your-blood-glucose.html. Beneficial effects of consuming a Paleolithic diet on the characteristics of the metabolic syndrome: a randomized controlled pilot study.
Fast food restaurant use among women in the Pound of Prevention Study: Dietary, behavioral, and demographic correlates. The role of leptin and ghrelin in the regulation of food intake and body weight in humans: a review. The beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on type 2 diabetes and other cardiovascular disease risk factors.
Profits and Pandemics: Preventing the Harmful Effects of the Tobacco, Alcohol, and Ultra-Processed Food and Beverage Industries. Cardiovascular disease caused by diet and lifestyle versus our paleolithic genome: how to become a 21st century hunter-gatherer. Dietary fat quality and the prevention of coronary heart disease: a unified theory based on evolutionary, historical, global, and contemporary perspectives.
