Myths about diet and health (3)
Continuing with our discussion about common myths we hold we will examine three more myths today.
Myth: Humans are very similar
It’s been commonly assumed in medical research that all humans are similar, and therefore, findings from a small group can be generalized across the population, aside from racial and socioeconomic variations. Humans are indeed genetically similar, which underpins the belief that clinical studies on one group are applicable to others if they share racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. Some of the recent studies have shattered this myth beyond doubt beginning with Human Genome Project.
Human Genome Project (1990-2003)
This project involved six of the world’s wealthiest countries, including the US, Japan, China, Germany, France, and the UK. The US alone invested 3 billion dollars in the project, which aimed to map an individual’s genome and predict their medical future, similar to a medical horoscope. However, the results revealed a surprising complexity, with human genes outnumbering expectations by a hundredfold. The mystery unraveled when it was discovered that the human body contains about 38 trillion foreign cells, mainly microbes in the colon, outnumbering its own 37 trillion human cells. These microbes, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other organisms, constitute our microbiota, with their genetic material forming our microbiome, significantly influenced by our diet and lifestyle.
Human Microbiome Project (2007 – Present)
To study the effects of bacteria on our health another project was undertaken in 2007 called the Human Microbiome Project. This resulted in a major shift in how we perceive and address health problems. For example we learned that:
Identical twins can be as much as 70% apart due to changes in their diet and lifestyle.
The same cause can manifest as different symptoms among different people.
The same symptoms can stem from different causes in different people.
Diagnosing problems based on symptoms is an imperfect science, often with hits and misses.
This new science is creating a whole new field of fecal transplantation. For example studies have shown that a fecal transplantation from a slim mouse into the colon of a fat mouse can make it lose weight easily within months. This is an active frontier in medical science today.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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