A Short Note on Influence of Evolutionary History on Human Health and Diseases

Received: 02-Mar-2022, Manuscript No. jem-22-62245;;Accepted Date: Mar 23, 2022; Editor assigned: 04-Mar-2022, Pre QC No. jem-22-62245 (PQ); Reviewed: 18-Mar-2022, QC No. jem-22-62245 ; Revised: 23-Mar-2022, Manuscript No. jem-22-62245 (R); Published: 30-Mar-2022, DOI: 10.4303/jem/236051

Commentary

Evolutionary medicine is a developing field that studies the evolutionary origins of human diseases and how they change over time. The majority of EM studies to date have relied on pure theories of hominin macroevolution to explain the current state of human health. We take a different approach here, focusing on more empirical and health-related research on past, current, and future microevolutionary changes in human structure, functions, and pathologies. The study of generation-to-generation changes in human morphology that occurred in historical times and continue to occur in modern populations as a result of evolutionary forces helps to explain medical conditions and warns clinicians that their current practises may influence future humans.In addition, analysing historic tissue specimens such as mummies is critical in addressing the molecular evolution of pathogens, the human genome, and their coadaptations. Humans continue to evolve in terms of anatomical structures, physiological processes, disease patterns, and prevalence. The platonic, essentialist view that Homo sapiens, once formed, remains the same biological entity over time is demonstrably false. Regardless of the differing perspectives on the origins of humans held by adherents of various religions and scientific theories, changes in human genes and phenotypes do occur from generation to generation. Microevolutionary changes in human lineages over time are clearly visible in the evolution of immunity to diseases, as well as the emergence of new metabolic processes such as lactose metabolism.They have also occurred in anatomical structures; such significant changes in morphological characteristics include: a decrease in the robusticity of the musculoskeletal apparatus, weight and height, microcranialization and brachycephalization (reduction in braincase size and shape), reductions in the size and number of teeth, and spinal morphology alterations.

These changes are almost certainly the result of structural reductions in response to technology reducing the need for physical strength and introducing extra oral food processing. Aside from genetic changes, such alterations may occur as a result of environmental changes, such as a reduction in chewing effort during food processing, resulting in a mechanically caused decrease in jaw size. These changes’ phenotypic manifestations are sometimes referred to as secular or micro evolutionary alterations. Based on the causes discussed previously, a distinction can be made between secular changes and micro evolutionary changes. Secular changes, such as height or weight gain, are usually alterations in the phenotypic expression of genetic potential with no changes in gene frequencies, whereas true microevolution involves changes in gene frequencies, as in the case of accumulating mutations. Because the exact mode of inheritance for many morphological and physiological characteristics is unknown, the distinction between phenotypic adaptive trends and true microevolution can be made by observing whether the magnitude of a particular change exceeds the range of adaptive phenotypic responses of the same genetic potential. Because they must reflect the changing genetic endowment of successive generations, generation-to-generation changes that exceed full phenotypic expression of the same genetic potential can be considered micro evolutionary. Rather than discussing pure theoretical understanding of human origins, the goal of this review is to highlight the potential of novel directions in EM empirical research for current and future biological and medical applications. As a result, it discusses current public health activities and biomedical practises through the eyes of future generations. Furthermore, the importance of ancient tissue samples, such as mummified bodies and archaeological bones and teeth, in studying the recent evolution of human disease is discussed, as is the potential impact of EM on academic curricula. Furthermore, rather than just caloric im-balance, the current obesity epidemic may be caused in part by increasing variation in the size of the body frame, which reflects a greater variation in the size of the gastrointestinal tract. The range of variations in hormones that regulate human appetite, such as lepton and ghrelin, and enzymes that regulate carbohydrate and fat metabolism in past and present populations may differ, adding to the evolutionary explanation for a portion of the obesity problem. Although it can be argued that short-term changes in body height and weight are not the result of changes in gene frequencies, but rather of adaptive, non-heritable responses to changing living conditions, the human body’s ability to respond to such changes is a product of its genetic makeup. The response appears to be harmful, particularly in the case of increasing body weight, and should be treated with interventions based on an understanding of human heritable adaptations to past diets, the so-called thrifty genotype hypothesis debate. The economic impact of such body shape changes on ‘biological standards of living’ has previously been discussed. Obesity is linked to increased mortality and morbidity, so any short-term change in obesity rates will have significant public health implications. Finally, it is unclear whether the majority of body height increases that occurred during the twentieth century were adaptive or genetic in nature.

Acknowledgment

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Conflict of Interest

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Copyright: © 2022 Mansour Aliabadian. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.