Once We Were Hunters A Study of the Evolution of Vascular Disease

We have been produced after millions of years of evolution, in the rainforest first and in the dry savanna bush later, and we still are more or less perfect for that environment. That kind of life (still practised by Bushmen) is associated with scarcity of food (particularly high-energy food such as fats and sugar) and salt, irregularity of feeding, seasonal and geographical variation of food, nomadic life, in which walking is the main form of exercise (10-12 hours every day), great variability of available food and sudden outbursts of energy either to catch prey or to avoid being prey. Our life was organised in a small-group, structured social style. Contact among groups under pristine conditions was (and is) very limited. Evolution forged us in 25 million years and now we control our world in a period of de-evolution, changing the rules of the game. We now shape the world instead of the world shaping us. Now, we have plenty of food (particularly fats, sugar and proteins), and regular "social" feeding even when we do not need food, the food in supermarkets is always the same anywhere (without seasonal variations); there is static life (watching television is the more frequent form of exercise), and there is no sudden use of high levels of energy; and there are too many people everywhere, too many contacts, causing stress and confusion in our life. The pristine playgrounds, just small patches, still survive in some places in Africa to explain the real evolutionary playground for us and our real nature. We cannot go back, but knowing who we are will help us to survive better and to create a better world according to our real evolutionary plan.burg -- 14. Th.