Just Finished Reading: The Story of the Human Body – Evolution, Health and Disease by Daniel Lieberman (FP: 2013)

It’s hard not to be fascinated by the evolution of your own species. Equally it’s not hard to find the spate of global health issues both mysterious and worrying. In this deeply researched and wide ranging book the author deftly connects the two.

In the first half of the book the author delves back 6 million years to the era where humans and apes shared a common ancestor. Since that far away time we have, subtle change built on subtle change eventually, some half million years ago, produced Homo sapiens – us. When climate change radically altered African forests our ancestors were forced to travel further and further, change their mostly fruit diet to something far more varied and painfully learn to communicate complex ideas necessary to organise hunting parties. As adaptation led to further change we stood up, began walking longer distances than our more ape-like ancestors would have found impossible and then learnt to run long distances hunting much larger prey to exhaustion. With hands free to carry, craft and throw increasing sophisticated weapons (starting with thrown rocks, heat hardened spears and bow fired arrows) we became the terror of the grassland and began our expansion across the whole globe. Humans became an astounding evolutionary success story the like of which had rarely been seen before.

But here in the early 21st century we are learning that what so superbly adapted us to life on the African veldt is sometimes less than ideal today. With incidents of chronic medical conditions associated with modernity in danger of overwhelming health services across all developed nations is it time to look again at how we got here and what it means to be human. The author certainly thinks so. One of the major problems experienced wherever western style culture has prospered is the so-called obesity epidemic. It seems perversely easy to put on weight yet almost impossible to lose it again. Why? How is it that previously rare conditions like Type 2 diabetes has exploded across the developed world in the space of a few generations? More importantly is there anything we can do about them before they bankrupt nations already dealing with an aging and ailing population.
This is, I think, where I became slightly disappointed with the authors narrative. So far he had been excellent explaining exactly how our ancestors evolved and what pressures in the environment produced those changes. Likewise he made an excellent argument putting forward the idea that it was the mismatch between what we are evolved for – life on the African plain – and the environment we have created for ourselves in the 21st century. Those problems are caused by (and I agree with the author here) by the sheer abundance of high energy food – which we crave – and the increasing level of comfort around everything we do. The solution to all this – and no, it isn’t going back to a more Palaeolithic lifestyle! – is eating less, doing more and to stop demanding more and more comfort in our lives. OK, this is essentially the same message that we are bombarded with almost daily but, as the author rightly points out, we are also bombarded with sugary drinks, treats, soft cakes and other easily digested pap. We love this because we are ‘designed’ to want calories to ensure that in the lean times we still have enough fat to get us through famine – except we have (at least in our part of the world) eliminated that famine. We are presently living in an endless time of plenty and its showing on our waistlines. So if willpower isn’t enough, and for most people it isn’t, to stop giving into monumental temptation governments, the author proposes, should be willing to nudge us in the right direction. As the book is written primarily from an American viewpoint this is a problem to the author who would generally eschew such things. Of course both the EU and UK are increasingly intervening in the food industry regulating labelling, salt and sugar levels and, of course, false advertising. It’s too soon to tell if these measures will have a noticeable impact on public health but time will tell. Like Tabaco regulation and decades of health warnings it is slowly being recognised that what we eat has a huge impact on our health and on our health bills.

This was a very interesting and highly informative read tinged with a little disappointment at the end. I think it’s certainly changed the way I look at health related issues – both my own and in the wider community – and that’s hardly ever a bad thing. At the very least I’m more aware of why I’m more inclined to do some of the things I do (and know that I shouldn’t) and I’m more able to rationally plan how to turn things around. Recommended for anyone interested in human health issues at all levels. Much more Biology and Human Biology to come.