Challenge to “thrifty gene” hypothesis

Back in 1962, James Neel proposed the “thrifty-gene” hypothesis to explain rising epidemics of metabolic syndrome – obesity and its closely associated co-morbidities – throughout the western world. This suggested that, since obesity has a strong genetic component, it represented a classic case of evolutionary mismatch. Neel posited that genes for fat deposition had been […]

from The Evolution and Medicine Review http://ift.tt/2egr27d