The Oxford handbook of evolutionary medicine

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Summary

Despite medicine being grounded in biology, evolutionary biology is a relatively disregarded field. Macroanatomical features of our species have changed very little in the last 300,000 years, but t...

Despite medicine being grounded in biology, evolutionary biology is a relatively disregarded field. Macroanatomical features of our species have changed very little in the last 300,000 years, but there have been subtle changes in metabolism and immunology, including adaptations to dietary innovations, and adaptations to exposure to novel pathogens. Rapid pathogen evolution and evolution of cancer cells cause major problems for the immune system to find adequate responses. Moreover, many adaptations to past ecologies have turned into risk factors for somatic disease and psychological disorder in our modern world (id est mismatch), among which epidemics of autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, as well as several forms of cancer stand out. In addition, depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric conditions add to the list.

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