Survival of the Sickest
by Sharon Moalem, Jonathan Prince · first published 2007
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Survival of the Sickest: The Surprising Connections Between Disease and Longevity is a 2007 New York Times Bestselling science book by Sharon Moalem, an evolutionary biologist and neurogeneticist, and Jonathan Prince, senior advisor and speechwriter for the Clinton administration. It was originally titled, Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease.
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'Survival of the Sickest' by Sharon Moalem covers this and several other diseases that are related to survival at a cost as well. Fun read for the interested! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_of_the_Sickest_(book)
on “How the ‘black death’ left its genetic mark on future generations” ↗…disadvantages too: sickle cell anemia (malaria resistance), diabetes (cold tolerance) are two I can think of off the top of my head. Here's an interesting book on the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_of_the_Sickest_(book)
on “ADHD linked to evolutionary success in ancient humans” ↗…that high intake of sugar told our bodies (or at least my scandanavian/scottish-genetics body) to start bulking up for the winter. Looks like rando might have been right. There's also the theory in Survival of the Sickest by Moalem that the high blood sugar in diabetes acts like antifreeze and protects against frostbite in the winter. That was from 2007, I don't know what people think about that theory now. (EDIT: After…
on “Fructose is the main culprit of the obesity epidemic, study explains” ↗