By Kris of A SMALL LIFE
This time of year my waiting room is FULL of itchy dogs with ear infections, flakey skin, and hot spots. I can’t stand it! I wonder why all these dogs are suffering from allergic skin disease. I don’t recall being inundated with allergic skin disease to quite this extent before; perhaps it is selective memory or just a confluence of goldenrod AND ragweed pollen. Although I don’t have ANY proof and I am certainly not the Weston A. Price of the veterinary world, I can’t help but see parallels between nutrition and health in my pet patients.
Advances in the study of nutrition has taken great leaps and bounds in the past 100 years. Nutrigenomics is the emerging study of the effects of foods and food constituents on gene expression. Spurred by the mapping of the Human Genome, we are developing an even greater understanding of the sometimes subtle interactions between our bodies and the nutrients we consume. We are discovering that certain nutrients (like omega-3 FA) actually cause up (or down) regulation of certain genes. What you put into your mouth can actually change your body’s metabolism and homeostasis at a genetic level. This is so exciting to me (but I’m a nerd that way!). I really like the idea of knowing why something is ‘good’ for you.
As a species our diet has changed so radically so quickly our genes cannot keep up. For approx 2.5 million years we were hunter-gatherers, we ate nuts, berries, seeds, carrion, fresh small and large game. There is some evidence Paleolithic people practiced farming on a small scale. But it wasn’t until approx 10,000 years ago that agriculture ‘took root’ ( 
) . I imagine there were some individuals whose genetic makeup did not allow them to thrive on a more grain based diet–selective pressure, adapt or die. Now here we are in the 21st century -our diet would be unrecognizable to our Neolithic ancestors. I think the average American’s diet is unrecognizable to our still Neolithic genome as well and that is why we are seeing such a surge in neoplastic, inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. I wonder if we will find that HFCS upregulates a protein or enzyme which then goes on to change neurotransmitter levels which lead to ADHD or Alzheimer’s or autism. Or maybe there is a flavonoid in blueberies that reduces heart disease by suppressing C reactive protein. You get the idea.
What to do? I don’t know exactly-I think each person will have a different answer to optimum nutrition. I’ll keep trying to remember to take omega-3 FA supplements. Stay away from HFCS and other simple sugars because I know I don’t like how they make me feel. More raw food and less meat -again because I think I function better that way. I encourage you to find your ‘happy’ place nutritionally, whether it is raw food or a caveman diet. Nutrition is NOT one size fits all!
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