On 2/8/2013 3:04 PM, classicvw@xxxxxxx wrote:
> He agrees that inflammation is the cause of problems but doesn't blame
> cholesterol. In response to inflammation the body sends calcium and
> cholesterol for repair. He did a paper where he proposes that inflammation is
> caused by attacks of microorganisms which are caused by either foods or toxic
> chemicals that weaken our immune system.
>
> In 2003 he published a review of the many studies that have shown low density
> lipoprotein (LDL) to be protective against infections, and put forward the
> hypothesis that high cholesterol, rather than promoting atherosclerosis, in
> fact may protect against it.
What a bizarre idea, that our bodies might act in such a way as to prolong, not
shorten, life! :-)
The ideas that the body is self-destructive, and must be controlled by a strong
will go back to the beginning of written
records*, but became especially strong in the West with early Christianity and
have persisted, even outside conservative
religion, in our culture as a whole. (Yes, I have my lecture on the subject
almost ready.)
I've been slowly reading an interesting book, Sex, Time and Power, by Leonard
Shlain, an MD and vascular surgeon with
insatiable curiosity and prodigious energy for and expertise in research. He
speculates how many of the oddities of
human physiology and body functions could have been useful for survival of our
species under the strictures of evolution.
Not as tightly and elegantly reasoned as his earlier "The Alphabet vs. The
Goddess", and I'm not as thoroughly convinced
as to the truth/usefulness of some of his conclusions so far.
Still, often eye opening to me as he takes one through aspects of our diet that
I didn't know about. I'd never, for
example, thought about our evolution into red meat eaters in terms of energy
efficiency, including direct acquisition of
needed cholesterol, which takes less energy than making it from scratch.
He also advances an idea as to why living to an age far beyond that necessary
to procreate may have been an evolutionary
advantage. That could account for systems that mitigate the health risks of age.
Speculative Moose
* No, not a coincidence. Yes, the start of written language is almost certainly
related to this idea. See Shalin's other
book above, among other sources.
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
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