The story of human evolution You’ll notice www.health.boomersclub.com.au headline banner depicts the story of human evolution through to modern man “hunting” with his shopping trolley. To get to where we are now we have overcome the Neanderthals, Sabre Tooth tigers, Ice Ages and ourselves. Today we face a new threat and it has a lot to do with the shopping trolley. Introduced in 1937 by Sylvan Goldman to his small Humpty Dumpty supermarket chain in Oaklahoma, the shopping trolley signifies an important turning point in human history and evolution. About 20 years prior to this cheap sugar was available to masses, and about 20 years after most Aussie families owned a car and had a refrigerator. This along with current modern transport and refrigeration means that for the first time in human history virtually any food we want is available 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year, and can be as little as a few steps away. Why is this a problem? Just ask the monkey on the left. Like most animals humans evolved to eat plenty in times of plenty, in order to survive times of hardship; but now there are NEVER times of hardship, while at the same time we are tempted with food and drinks that taste really good resulting in over consumption by over half the population. Rhesus monkeys, left to right, Canto, 27, and on a restricted diet, and Owen, 29, and a control subject on an unrestricted diet, are pictured at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on May 28, 2009. The two are among the oldest surviving subjects in a pioneering long-term study of the links between diet and aging in Rhesus macaque monkeys, which have an average life span of about 27 years in captivity. Lead researcher Richard Weindruch, a professor of medicine in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and co-author Ricki Colman, associate scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, report new findings in the journal Science that a nutritious, but reduced-calorie, diet blunts aging and delays the onset of such aged-related disorders as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and brain atrophy. ©UW-Madison University Communications 608/262-0067 Photo by: Jeff Miller Date: 05/09 File#: NIKON D3 digital frame 5657 This monkey had free access to food, it could eat as much as it wanted whenever it wanted. Effectively it lived in our modern “shopping trolley” environment. It is 29 years old and certainly showing its age. This Monkey is 27 years old and while being provided the same food, the daily amount was restricted to that required to maintain a healthy weight, resulting in a healthy old monkey. The brain on the left is from a monkey that lived the “shopping trolley” environment and lifestyle. About 40% of the brain has disappeared! I really hope that the most important thing in this monkeys whole life was the enjoyment of food; because it has paid an extremely high price for that pleasure. The Bottom Line A press release on the two monkeys trial had this to say. “We observed that caloric restriction reduced the risk of developing an age-related disease by a factor of three and increased survival” and “During the 20-year course of the study, half of the animals permitted to eat freely have survived, while 80 percent of the monkeys given the same diet, but with 30 percent fewer calories, are still alive.” See more at: http://news.wisc.edu/reduced-diet-thwarts-aging-disease-in-monkeys/#sthash.FH9hzpLe.dpuf the full scientific paper on the experiment can be read HERE Your Club’s research has concluded that the items over which we have control and can extend vital life are in order, how much we put in our mouths, what we put in our mouths, when we put it in our mouths, stress management and social engagement. Your Club is now finalising three diet programs, weight loss, healthy weight maintenance, and a 30 day cholesterol fix. You will find them completely different to nearly all those currently promoted and we shall let you know when enrollments will begin.