http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
If you get the colors right in any food, you can almost guarantee the flavors are going to be good. When I first discovered all the varieties of colorful cauliflower, I knew the common white type might be forever banned in my kitchen. This flavorful dip is shocking purple and changes colors before your very eyes, thanks to a hit of lemon juice.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
When it comes to cookies, it’s hard to beat a warm, freshly baked batch featuring the dynamic duo of oats and raisins. Each sweet, lightly spiced bite of a chewy oatmeal cookie is like catching up with an old friend — a friend that you can eat.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
On a warm day, there’s nothing quite like the refreshment you get from sipping a glass of lemonade. There’s something about it that just makes you slow down for a minute and soak up the sunshine. Its sweet tang is perfect on its own, but I dare you to go beyond the usual — add a little sparkle and extra flair by simply stirring in just one ingredient.
http://chriskresser.com/
We can learn a lot from looking at paleontological evidence and studying the few remaining traditional hunter-gatherer cultures on Earth. From an ancestral or evolutionary perspective, it is increasingly clear that many modern chronic diseases are a result of a mismatch between our innate biology and our modern environment.
When we think about our biology and human evolution, though, we’re typically thinking about our genes, which carry our heritable genetic information. But what about the 99 percent of the genes associated with your body that are not even human? That’s right—while each human carries about 23,000 protein-encoding genes (1), the microbes living on and in your body have an estimated 9 million different genes (2). And these genes may be key players in determining the evolutionary trajectory of the host.
Before we go any further, though, let’s review a few basics of evolution.
Every living organism has a genetic blueprint in the form of DNA. All of our physical characteristics are encoded by this DNA (and how it is expressed). When organisms pass on their genes in the form of DNA to the next generation, they are copied very precisely. On occasion, however, there will be a small change, or mutation, in the genetic code. These small changes ultimately produce genetic variation in a population of organisms. Sexual reproduction also provides a great deal of variation, with offspring receiving a mix of genes from both parents.
A particular mutation or variant of a gene can be harmful, neutral, or beneficial to an organism’s overall fitness. Those organisms that are most “fit” for their environment are more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass on their genes to the next generation. Organisms therefore tend to become more adapted to their environment over time. The various constraints of a given environment are the “selective pressures” that favor the survival and reproduction of one organism over another.
If two distinct populations of a given species migrate into different environments, they will experience different selective pressures and, over many generations, adapt to their respective habitats. If they are separated for long enough, their physiology may no longer allow them to mate with one another and produce viable offspring. When this occurs, we say that a new species has formed.
Since Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, abundant geological, paleontological, anthropological, molecular, and genomic evidence has provided support for his theory of natural selection. With recent knowledge about our microbial inhabitants, the picture has become a bit more complex.
In 2007, Eugene Rosenberg and Ilana Zilber-Rosenberg introduced the concept of the hologenome. Far from contradicting Darwin’s theory of natural selection, the concept of the hologenome instead adds a layer of complexity that was not previously considered in evolutionary biology. It suggests that together, the host genome and the genomes of all of its related microbes make up the “hologenome” (3).
In other words, evolution does not act solely on your 23,000 human genes. Rather, it acts on the 9.02 million genes (both host and microbial) that are present in and on your body, as a single entity. This is true for every multicellular organism on the planet, as symbiotic relationships with microbes are ubiquitous among eukaryotic organisms like animals, plants, and fungi. Every animal with a digestive tract has some form of gut microbiota that is unique to that animal. Similarly, plants are coated in bacteria and fungal microbes on their leaves and roots (4).
Did you know your body is part of a hologenome?
If you’ve read some of the other articles on my blog, the idea that microbes play a role in host fitness should be a no-brainer. Numerous modern chronic diseases are associated with disruption of the microbiota, such as allergies, autoimmunity, skin conditions, inflammatory bowel disease, thyroid conditions, diabetes, obesity, and others (5). The microbiota plays many roles in shaping the health of its host, including protection against pathogens, metabolism, detoxification, and immune and nervous system development (6). Microbes are also known to produce signaling molecules that influence human gene expression (7). In short, a healthy microbial composition typically results in a more “fit” individual.
In fact, microbes have been impacting host fitness for as long as multicellular organisms have been around. Mitochondria, the part of your cells responsible for producing energy, were actually once a free-living bacterium that was engulfed by a eukaryotic cell (a cell containing a nucleus) (8). This symbiotic relationship eventually became permanent. Similarly, in photosynthetic plants, the chloroplasts that are able to use light energy to make organic compounds are very closely related to cyanobacteria (9). Life as we know it would simply not exist without these microbially derived structures.
In addition to directly impacting host fitness, the microbiota provides three novel modes of introducing genetic variation (10). Variation is absolutely crucial for the emergence of new traits and ultimately new species.
As mentioned in the previous section, horizontal gene transfer occurs frequently between microbes (12). For example, the Japanese are able to digest agar because they traditionally eat large quantities of seaweed. The marine bacterium Zobellia galactanivorans colonizes the surface of marine plants, feeding on the agar. When the Japanese routinely ingested this marine bacterium on raw seaweed, it “shared” its genes for agar-degrading enzymes with their resident gut bacteria (13). In this way, the microbes present on the foods that we eat may very well “educate” our gut bacteria by sharing the genomic information necessary to digest it.
So microbes can share genes with each other. But what about human cells? Can microbes share genes with us? Recent studies suggest that they can, and in fact, it occurs quite frequently. A total of 145 genes commonly thought of as “human” genes can be attributed to horizontal gene transfer. Most of these genes come from bacteria, but some come from viruses or yeast (14). Considering the fact that only a small percentage of microbes on Earth have been identified (15), and an even smaller percentage have had their full genome sequenced, it’s quite plausible that many more of our genes will be shown to have microbial roots in the coming decades.
Microbes also influence the emergence of new species. In 1989, studies on fruit flies showed that splitting a fly population and raising some on a molasses medium and others on a starch medium resulted in distinct mating preferences. The flies grown on molasses preferred other “molasses flies” and the flies grown on starch preferred other “starch flies” (16). This is important because mating preference is considered to be an early event in the emergence of new species.
More recent studies followed up on this finding and found that antibiotic treatment eliminated the diet-induced mating preference. Subsequent recolonization of these antibiotic treated flies with the bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum reestablished the mating preference. The researchers found that L. plantarum was able to change the levels of sex pheromones released (17,18).
The microbiota also influences whether an offspring is viable after conception. Recall that according to the biological species definition, two groups of organisms that cannot interbreed with one another and produce viable offspring are considered to be separate species. A study on wasps found that when recently diverged wasp species were crossbred, all of the hybrids died during the larval stage. Antibiotic treatment rescued the survival of the hybrids, suggesting that their symbiotic microbes played a role in hybrid mortality (19).
While your environment, early-life experiences, and diet all play a major role in shaping the composition of your microbiota, your genes also play a role. Across the animal kingdom, microbial community composition parallels phylogeny (20). This means that animals that share a more recent common ancestor and are more closely related to each other on the evolutionary tree of life also tend to have more similar microbiotas, even when maintained on the same diet (21).
Genetic variation can also explain differences in the microbiota within a single species. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (a change in one base molecule in the DNA) and copy number variations (the number of a certain gene that you have) can explain differences in the microbiota (22). Furthermore, in humans, identical twins have a very similar microbiota composition (23), and microbial composition tends to correlate with ethnicity (24).
So how exactly do your genes shape the community of microbes that inhabit your gut, skin, lungs, nasal passages, and other areas of your body? It turns out that hosts have developed several means of regulating which microbes can colonize and which cannot. One is encoding genes for antimicrobial peptides, which are secreted at mucosal surfaces. These small proteins inhibit the growth of certain microbes over others (25). Hosts also produce microRNA molecules that can enter bacteria and regulate bacterial gene expression, growth, and survival (26).
Hopefully you’re still with me, because now we get into the really interesting stuff: how the hologenome played a role in the evolution of our species, Homo sapiens. Scientists have long speculated about the forces that were responsible for the development of human intelligence. Two factors seem to stand out in relation to the hologenome: an expansion of hominid diets and an increase in social behavior. Let’s look at each separately.
Meat, starchy carbohydrates, and the advent of cooking have all been associated with expansion of the human brain (27,28). The transition to bipedalism (walking upright on two legs) allowed for the carrying of foraged materials from great distances, diversifying the diet of early hominids (29). It also made it easier for our ancestors to track and pursue large animals.
This diversification of meat and plant foods necessitated a similar diversification of microbes able to extract nutrients from these new energy sources. A study published just this month found that humans have a faster metabolic rate than any other primate, which likely fueled the evolution of larger brains (30). This increase in metabolic rate was likely at least partly due to changes in microbial composition, as microbes have been suggested to play a key role in determining host energy expenditure (31).
Social behavior in primates is also thought to be a critical factor in the evolution of human intelligence (32). Access to microbes may have been a driving force in the evolution of animal sociality, since microbes confer many benefits to the host (33). Social behaviors like grooming, kissing, and sex increased the transfer of microbes from one organism to another. Studies in social mammals have found that development of the forebrain and neocortex in social mammals depends on signals from the microbiota (34), and germ-free mice that lack a microbiota also lack social behavior and show deficits in social cognitive abilities (35).
All right, it’s clear that we benefit from the microbes in our guts. But what’s in it for the microbes? As mentioned in the previous section, increases in host social behavior allow for enhanced microbial transmission between hosts. Living in symbiosis with a host also provides microbes with an environment rich in nutrients. Recent evidence suggests that the microbiota might even shape host feeding behavior (36), making you crave the very foods that feed particular species in your gut (stay tuned for an article on that topic).
It’s also important to keep in mind that evolution does not have an end goal. Historically, Earth was completely microbial for 2 billion years before eukaryotes entered the scene. Simply put, eukaryotic evolution has never seen a period without the presence of microbes. An ancestral approach to health would be therefore be remiss without considering the role that microbes and the hologenome have played in the past and the role that they will play in shaping the future of our species.
You might be left wondering: is our modern diet and overuse of antibiotics messing with evolution? It’s certainly possible. A recent study performed in Dr. Justin Sonnenburg’s lab at Stanford showed that in mice, a diet low in fiber caused dramatic changes in the microbiota that were reversible within that generation if fiber was reintroduced. Over several generations, however, a low-fiber diet caused an irreversible loss of microbial diversity (37).
Cultivating a healthy community of microbes with a nutrient-dense diet is not only important for your own health, but might also be important for the health of your great-great-grandchildren!
Now I’d like to hear your thoughts. Had you ever heard of the hologenome? What was most surprising to you? Let us know in the comments section!
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
I’m getting ready to head off to Austin, Texas for Paleo f(x) 2016, one of my favorite events of the year. I always leave inspired, with an expanded mind and new friends who share my passion for ancestral health.
As you may know, Paleo f(x) is the place to be for anyone looking to discover something new within the Paleo/Primal sphere. It’s a full weekend composed of New York Times bestselling authors, leading physicians, scientists, practitioners, athletes, fitness professionals, health entrepreneurs, activists, bloggers, and more. And if you’re looking to get in on the action, there’s more than one way to do it.
If you’re planning on attending, then be sure to say hello. I’ll have a booth set up (as will hundreds of other Paleo/Primal-friendly vendors). My awesome crew and I would love to meet you. Plus, I’m delivering a keynote address on Primal Endurance principles, which you won’t want to miss. Paleo f(x) is expecting attendance to reach well beyond 2,000 people from all walks of ancestral health living, so you’ll be able to network, rub shoulders, make friends, and learn more than you’d probably thought possible in one weekend.
You don’t have to attend live though. Paleo f(x) is all about promoting the movement and reaching as many people as possible, so the organizers are featuring a number of presentations, Q & As, and panel discussions for FREE via live stream from May 27-29th. You’ll be able to livestream all presentations on the Bulletproof Paleo On Ramp Stage (including everything you want to know about health, nutrition, fitness, sleep, and lifestyle from an evolutionary health perspective). No travel arrangements necessary! You can catch some of the liveliest, informative discussions directly from your living room.
There’s going to be three days’ worth of content lined up via from some of the world’s most prominent speakers in ancestral health, including:
Not too shabby for a free online event. If you’re already interested, just click here to sign up.
You can also check out a small sampling of what’s in store:
This panel discussion, featuring Melissa Hartwig and other super ancestral health moms, will focus on all things related to tackling pregnancy with a Paleo/Primal lifestyle. Guest speakers will discuss the benefits of rearing your baby in concert with ancestral health principles, drawing from a wide array of professional and personal experiences.
This live Q & A session features one of my own favorite Primal doctors here at MDA, Dr. Cate Shanahan, who’s answered some of your listener questions on The Primal Blueprint Podcast. As a medical professional well-versed in ancestral health theory, you’ll definitely want to tune in to see her take on whatever the audience has to ask.
You’ll also be able to see me put in my two cents as a panel participant. In what should be a lively discussion, we’ll be talking about the state of modern science, seen through the lens of certain public controversies such as GMOs and vaccines. We’ll examine the state of peer review, which scientific experts and the public should ostensibly trust, and when and where mainstream science or alternative health veers into pseudoscience. I’m sure this one will interest more than a few of you.
Again, that’s only a fraction of the lineup. There’s too much content to mention here, so check out the schedule to get the scoop on all the additional content that will be available over the entirety of the event. I’m sure you’ll be hard pressed not to find a speaker or topic worth checking out. Heck, if you tune in and get some questions about topics you’d like me to address, take some notes and send them in. This is a great opportunity to revitalize, explore, and tackle the newest issues circulating around the community.
So I hope you’ll join me, if not in person, then online from May 27th through the 29th for Paleo f(x). See you then!
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
This week we’re showing you Leela Cyd’s gorgeous tea party that she put together for her and a few of her pals right outside of Santa Barbara. While the thoughtful bites and delicious tea might have been the stars of the whole shebang, the music really transformed the occasion into a party.
Just try to listen to this (mostly) ’60s playlist without dancing and singing along. I dare you.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Potato salad is an American classic we crave — especially during summertime. My nana is famous for hers; it’s requested for every gathering from our Memorial Day barbecue to our late-summer family reunion. There’s just something sublime and comforting about creamy, tangy mayonnaise dressing stirred into pillowy chunks of potatoes and sprinkled with table salt and black pepper.
For now classes are 6pm and 640pm at 2840 Wildwood st in the Boise Cloggers studio.
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