Rasputin
08-10-2010, 16:18
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38600414/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/
The article mentions environmental toxins, which I do think have something to do with the problem, but I also think that a big factor is the ready access that many (most?) parents are giving their children to sugars and starches, especially in the form of sweet drinks and juices.
From an evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense for a population's birthrate to ebb and flow along with ready access to calories and nutrition. The genome only cares about passing itself on to another generation, and being physically capable of breeding at 8, although socially repugnant and at that age dangerous, serves that purpose.
I could easily imagine genetic expression kicking in after years of putting the body into fat-storage-mode from chronically high levels of carbohydrate, telling the body that it will likely be continuing into the future, so now's the time to get busy making babies. Feast vs. famine.
We have already seen that the body's reproductive capabilities are tied in to the insulin resistance system. Fertility drops precipitously once a woman becomes insulin resistant, and resumes with a low-carb diet is followed or drugs such as Glucophage increase the insulin sensitivity of the cells. PCOS improves or disappears once you remove carbs from the diet.
Although observational studies aren't great data, it would be very interesting to track the macronutrient intake of children and see if it has a relationship to:
1. Overall caloric intake
2. Ratio of fat/protein/carbs
3. Vitamin and mineral content of diet
4. Exercise amounts
5. Weight of the mother (at birth of child, and at onset of puberty of child).
The article mentions environmental toxins, which I do think have something to do with the problem, but I also think that a big factor is the ready access that many (most?) parents are giving their children to sugars and starches, especially in the form of sweet drinks and juices.
From an evolutionary standpoint, it makes sense for a population's birthrate to ebb and flow along with ready access to calories and nutrition. The genome only cares about passing itself on to another generation, and being physically capable of breeding at 8, although socially repugnant and at that age dangerous, serves that purpose.
I could easily imagine genetic expression kicking in after years of putting the body into fat-storage-mode from chronically high levels of carbohydrate, telling the body that it will likely be continuing into the future, so now's the time to get busy making babies. Feast vs. famine.
We have already seen that the body's reproductive capabilities are tied in to the insulin resistance system. Fertility drops precipitously once a woman becomes insulin resistant, and resumes with a low-carb diet is followed or drugs such as Glucophage increase the insulin sensitivity of the cells. PCOS improves or disappears once you remove carbs from the diet.
Although observational studies aren't great data, it would be very interesting to track the macronutrient intake of children and see if it has a relationship to:
1. Overall caloric intake
2. Ratio of fat/protein/carbs
3. Vitamin and mineral content of diet
4. Exercise amounts
5. Weight of the mother (at birth of child, and at onset of puberty of child).