don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

In Sitka, because they are fond of them,
People have named the seals. Every seal
is named Earl because they are killed one
after another by the orca, the killer
whale; seal bodies tossed left and right
into the air. "At least he didn't get
Earl," someone says. And sure enough,
after a time, that same friendly,
bewhiskered face bobs to the surface.
It's Earl again. Well, how else are you
to live except by denial, by some
palatable fiction, some little song to
sing while the inevitable, the black and
white blindsiding fact, comes hurtling
toward you out of the deep?

"Earl" by Louis Jenkins, in North of the Cities [Will o' the Wisp Books, 2007]

The obesity issue is such a blindsiding fact of American life that we, like the people of Sitka, may need some form of denial, a palatable fiction or song to sing as the inevitable woes associated with our large-sized society hurtles toward us, out of the proverbial deep of human evolution gone awry.

New data widely publicized in August 2007 reveal increases in obesity in every American state. With this come significant social perturbations, most notably a rapid increase in the number of people suffering from diabetes. This, in turn, indicates that human evolution is occurring faster than normal, in a manner consistent with the Stephen Jay Gould's phrase "punctuated equilibrium." After moving at a glacial pace for centuries, static stability in human evolution seems over -- a good percentage of us are going to pot, rapidly. This is a form of negative evolution. It does not lead to survival for those involved, but rather extinction. The Orca in this case, the killer whale, is Type II diabetes.

Of course, facing the facts and dealing with the challenge of obesity is better than calling every diabetic Earl or attempting some other form of denial. Where better to start than right here with a "Don's Report" warning against creeping evolution of a dysfunctional nature?

One of my professors at George Washington University said that, "death was the editor of nature's follies." It could be said, I suppose, that diabetes also edits nature's follies. But, that would be incorrect. The follies are not nature's, but that of humans, particularly those who allow themselves to become obese. Of course, not all humans can prevent the condition, due to unfavorable genetics. However, the term "folly" might well apply to those who become obese as a consequence of over-eating and under-exercise.

Diabetes affects at least 7 and possibly up to 10 percent of the population of this country's largest state (California). Even more alarming, the numbers of pre-diabetics (those with high levels of sugar and inflammatory agents in the blood) are twice that of full-blown diabetics. These trends are consistent throughout the nation, in fact, the situation is worse in many Southern states.

Type II diabetes, in other words, is evolution at work in our own era, during our lifetime. Environments change, and those who do not adapt die off. New features of our environment that challenge the species include an abundance of calories in the form of sugary, fatty foods introduced at the same time most inhabitants have become essentially sedentary. Those who do not resist or develop defenses against this environment will become diabetic and die off. Evolution is pitiless. Prayers don't matter. Sympathy does not help.

According to Greg Critser, writing in the Los Angeles Times ("Diabetes -- Darwinism In Our Time?" August 30, 2007), this evolutionary change can be traced to Western Europe during the post-Renaissance period. At that time, "crop yields exploded, personal fortunes grew and famine -- the evolutionary driver of our genetic propensity to acquire and store calories by way of the so-called hungry gene -- became less frequent. This produced a growing population, mainly the rich and the new upper-middle class, who began displaying all the symptoms we now recognize as diabetic: unquenchable thirst...numbness and pain in the extremities... blindness...and, eventually, loss of limb to infection."

We are, in Critser's phrase, "engineers of our own evolution." Unfortunately, it's not the kind of evolving most of us would like to be doing.

What will it take to turn this around, to evolve in more healthful ways in order that we live better, longer and with increased quality and durability? How about more supportive social and medical environments and new technologies to treat the symptoms of pre-diabetes? Such advances would be nice, but I don't think that will be enough.

I suggest that only better choices in the areas of exercise, nutrition and sensible decision-making will return evolution of our species to a more positive, adaptive direction. This will require government and corporate incentives for those who can't bring themselves to do what is in their interest for whatever reasons (and there are plenty). We must also help everyone to favor evidence over hype, science over superstition and personal responsibility over looking for cures for problems that can be avoided in the first place.

Be well. Look on the bright side.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of adaptations and challenges. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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