Once we were hunters : a study of the evolution of vascular disease / editor, Gianni Belcaro.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

pt. I. Evolution and Cardiovascular Diseases in a Nutshell. Lucy in the Sky. Evolution. The Hunting Season. Athero-People. All Selection that really Matters Happens before Reproduction. Our Population Now. Vascular Epidemiology, Its Meaning and What Population Studies Tell Us. Rift Valley. A Theory to be Demonstrated. Evolution, Natural Selection and Atherosclerosis. We Still Are What We Have Been Selected For. Now What? Knowing Our Destiny. Conclusions? Atherosclerosis as a Response to Accumulation of Lipoproteins in the Arterial Wall. The Response-to-Retention Hypothesis in Early Atherogenesis -- pt. II. Evolution and Medicine. Evolutionary Medicine. Original Selection and Evolution, and Discrepancy between the Evolutionary Shape of Humans and the Present Human Figure. Common Objections to Natural-Selection-Based Theories in Medicine. The Evolutionary Design (ED) and the Present Environmental Conditions (EC). Our Life. Evolution and Our Story Now. And Cosmically Speaking: Does It Matter? The Evolutionary Ladder. Savuti, Botswana. The Beginning and the End of the World. Aggressivity. The Symbolic Hunting Response. Diet and Vascular Disease. Super-Stimuli. Conditioning. Voluntary Food Restrictions. Exercise and Being Lazy. Contacts (Well, Actually No Contacts). The Problem of Food Biodiversity. Immunology and Contacts. High Blood Pressure. Cardiovascular Disease and Evolution. How Do We Use These Observations? Individual and Group Selection. Evolution -- Bits. How Do We Use These Considerations? You Can Save Your Life -- pt. III. Lessons to Remember. Junk Food Homo. The Cradles. African Edens. The Lesson of Bwindi, the Impenetrable Forest. Our Nature in a Spaceship. Chronology. The Evolutionary Snake. From the Survival-of-the-Fittest to the Survival-of-the-Fattest. Nomadism, Colonialism and the Evolution of Africa in the Recent Past. Places in the Book: The Last "Cradles."

We emerged after millions of years of evolution, first in the rainforest and then in the dry savanna bush. This nomadic way of life was characterised by seasonal and geographical variation of food; scarcity, particularly of high-energy food containing fats and sugar; and walking as the main form of exercise, with sudden bursts of energy either to catch prey or to avoid becoming prey. Society was organised into structured, small-groups, contact among whom was very limited under normal conditions. After this 25 million-year period of evolution, however, we have now entered a period of de-evolution, in which we shape the world instead of it shaping us. We now have plenty of food (particularly fats, sugar and proteins), with regular 'social' feedings even when we do not need food. Food in supermarkets is not subject to seasonal variations and we are fairly static physically (watching television being more frequent than exercise), without sudden use of high levels of energy. Socially, there are too many people, too much contact, causing stress and confusion. We must look to the small pockets of our former way of life which still survive in some parts of Africa to explain our real evolutionary background and nature. We cannot go back, but knowing who we are will help us to survive and to create a better world, according to our true evolutionary plan.

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