APOE4 are the Paleo-Paleos, the simian ones, - Paleo Clinic

APOE4 are the Paleo-Paleos, the simian ones, - Paleo Clinic

I still believe that genetics and epigenetics are very important and that different people have different dietary sweet spots. I did the National Genographic test and now I know that my mitochondria (mtDNA J haplogroup) are probably used to higher amounts of fat and to generating heat through decoupling (those cold nights in the Paleo steppe?). But mtDNA J folks where the ones responsible for the Neolithic Revolution, weren’t they? So, my ancestors probably never experienced Ice Age with its (seasonal) abundance of mammoth fat.

But APOE is much more interesting, and I will probably get tested, considering my relatively high cholesterol last year. It has been claimed that APOE4 are the Paleo-Paleos, the simian ones, more used to plant based diet and that the mutation to APOE3, about 200K years ago, allowed our ancestors to eat more fat. I find it hard to believe that suddenly, 200K y.a. fat became more abundant. But interestingly APOE4 was decimated in the Fertile Crescent, but was it because of high fat diet? Or more likely because of high carb and glycation? APOE4 is more susceptible to glycation and oxidation, which might be a mechanism for its role in Alzheimer’s (with high cholesterol a compensatory mechanism to get more of it to the brain). What is even more interesting, other primates have APOE4, but theirs behaves like human APOE3, possibly making them more adapted to higher carb diet? But what was the adaptive advantage in our australopithecine ancestors to change from simian APOE4 to human APOE4 millions years ago? Was it less carb in the diet with added benefit of resistance to some viral infections?

There is no way to find the truth, whatever the truth means. Humans see patters where there are none, they come up with theories just to reduce uncertainty and cognitive dissonance, they need reassurance. Paleo world was all about uncertainty and insecurity, probably much more than our modern (post-)Neolithic world. Even religion was invented before the Neolithic (see: Gobekli Tepe, June issue of National Geographic)... 

About Me

PaleoDoc MD, PhD

Professionally I deal with clinical evidence; it is called Evidence Based Medicine. I also look at economic implications of various treatments, as well as their health policy context. Diet, exercise and generation of hypotheses is my hobby, hence this blog, definitely not evidence based, but rather based on random thoughts that cross my mind while exercising or preparing food. For these reasons, the content of this blog can not constitute medical advice or recommendation of any kind.

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