Can we be healthy in a modern world?

Humans have been on the earth for around 200,000 years. Our physiology evolved to the point around 10,000 years ago to suit the life of a hunter-gatherer where we were basically, at the top of the food chain. We knew we’d had a good day if all our limbs were intact, and we weren’t bleeding from somewhere after a bad interaction with a potential competing food source.  

This was daily existence until that inevitable attack from a bigger, quicker predator, or a just as devastating assault from an unseen microbe, which muscled in on one of their organs, bludgeoning their immune system into submission. 

Thus, the major killers of the hunter-gatherer world were trauma and infection. These days, when we typically live much longer, our parts start to wear out & we succumb to a totally different set of disease processes. 

From a health viewpoint, the major issue we’re confronted with is that although our world has changed dramatically since the days we were hunter-gatherers, our physiology hasn’t really changed that much.

Another important mechanism here is the ability to store fat during times of reduced food supply. These fat stores held a small supply of fat around the hunter-gatherer belly to provide energy during times of starvation.

There is a common condition called insulin resistance that decreases the free entry of nutrients, especially into the muscles. If you have insulin resistance, the fat is stored around the belly to be used during these times of famine, and also sugar levels are somewhat higher, which keeps the brain more active during these times. 

The brain really only functions correctly with adequate sugar; the other fuels (such as fat) don’t really work. Thus, insulin resistance was an extraordinary advantage as a hunter-gatherer, but is a major disadvantage in our modern world.

Sitting in your cave all day wasn’t really an adequate method of finding or hunting for food. So, a major feature of the hunter-gatherer existence was constant movement to hunt and gather food. (Thus, the name.) 

Our bodies were designed to be moving machines. You were designed to have fluid, toned muscles that could snap into action at the drop of a ferocious-looking jaw from an unexpected place.  

The only stress our body was designed for was the acute stress of the kill or acute danger to ourselves, as well as another rather obvious stress and danger – the need to stave off infections. 

Let’s bring in the modern world: 

1. Synthetic Chemicals: although nature hasn’t been completely destroyed, many of the natural chemicals and foods used by hunter-gatherers have been altered in ways to make them last longer, look better, taste better (some would say), and will be used for anything from washing and making you smell better to ridding the body or surfaces of unwanted bugs. The problem here is that we were not designed to be exposed to the variety of synthetic chemicals so widespread in our modern world. These chemicals are a major factor in many of our modern diseases. 

2. Radiation: various types of subtle and not so subtle forms of radiation are a common feature of our modern existence. It’s estimated that the average person living in any modern community is exposed to around the radiation equivalent of five chest x-rays per year. This is purely from all manner of electronic appliances, including computers and mobile phones. It’s well established that excessive radiation exposure is not particularly good for the body, especially below age 50. 

3. Sedentary Lifestyle with A Constant Food Supply: this is a recipe for obesity. In the modern world you’re not saving up those fat stores for a ‘starvy’ day; you’re basically piling up the layers with continual eating and not much movement. 

4. Chronic Stresses: from the moment you’re woken up in the morning (strangely, it’s called an alarm clock – even the language is stressful) to the moment you wake up the next morning, modern living can be one dose of stress after the other. Rushing to get ready for work; the long commute; deadlines; office politics; annoying, demanding bosses; lazy, incompetent workers – and I haven’t even started on the complexities of modern families. Unfortunately, many of these chronic stresses contribute to the state of constant unhappiness many people experience in the modern environment. 

5. Longer Life/Longer Exposure: because we’re living longer than the hunter-gatherer, we’re exposed to all the unnatural factors for a much longer period. 

It is my firm opinion that for all of the above reasons, we are now seeing all manner of diseases which take us off the planet occurring earlier.

The rise of colorectal and other gastrointestinal (GI) cancers in individuals under 50 has become a concerning trend worldwide, with a notable increase in diagnoses, particularly early-onset colorectal cancer, which is now a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men and ranked second for women in the United States. Despite this alarming development, the absolute number of cases in younger people remains significantly lower than in older populations, where age remains the primary risk factor for cancer.

Recent studies have highlighted a 14.8% increase in early-onset colorectal cancer in the U.S. from 2010 to 2019, a trend mirrored globally. While the specific causes of this rise remain elusive, research suggests that a combination of environmental influences, dietary habits, and lifestyle choices may play critical roles. Factors such as obesity, Western-style diet, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and exposure to microplastics have been implicated.

A separate analysis published in Nature Medicine predicts that without early interventions, up to 15.6 million cases of gastric cancer could emerge in the coming decades, largely due to infections from the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. Experts express concern over this trend, emphasizing the need for enhanced awareness and targeted interventions among younger populations to address these growing risks. 

Most patients with early-onset colorectal cancer do not have traditional risk factors like obesity or a familial history, underscoring the complexity of this public health issue. Although I do believe that insulin resistance & diabesity are factors in earlier onset diseases, even without this specific genetic risk factor, the variety of toxins mentioned above, so ubiquitous in our modern world, are almost certainly contributing to this alarming trend towards earlier serious diseases such as cancer & cardiovascular disease. As researchers continue to investigate the underlying causes, proactive measures are essential to curb the rising incidence of GI cancers in younger demographics. I believe it is time for a serious rethink about the way we live in the modern world.