Meller: Evolution Rx

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William Meller, Evolution Rx : A Physician’s Guide to Harnessing our Innate Capacity for Health and Healing. New York : Penguin Group, 2009. 336 pages; includes bibliographical references and index.

Evolution Rx addresses various health topics from the perspective of human evolution. For instance, how could the gene for sickle-cell anemia, a disease that kills its victims at a young age, have survived? (It turns out that only children who inherit two copies of the gene--one from each parent--has the disease; children who inherit only one copy of the gene are actually protected from malaria!)

Dr. Meller, a medical doctor, also addresses our dietary needs (proposing the notion that our bodies only produce the enzyme for protein, to tell us we're full, since early humans didn't have access to plentiful carbohydrates before farming and agriculture), vitamins and minerals. In addition, he touches on some lighter topics, such as why so many men go bald. (Many men will enjoy reading the argument that bald men typically have higher-than-average levels of testosterone, usually associated with stronger muscles, better wound healing, and high libidos, so who may be more appealing to a woman as a mate to father her child?) Notably lacking from the book, however, is a theory on why males have nipples!

Dr. Meller employs scientific logic while working through the various hypotheses in this book, but mostly he encourages us to use our common sense in thinking through popular health-care notions.

-- Notes by LFW