Fleas from rats spread Yersinia pestis to humans
So will going paleo really pay off with better health? As a big-picture guide to how to organize your life, definitely. But don’t get carried away with trying to recreate the exact details of a long-lost diet. Humans have changed and diversified even over the past few thousand years, so the only way to know what works best for your genes is to experiment. Go wild.
The article mentions the “increasing pace of human evolution,” an idea I’m still not convinced is valid. Sure, a large population of critters should produce more genetic variation and mutation. But it could take longer for a successful variation to spread through that population, compared to a smaller population. It depends on selection pressure, to some extent. The Black Plague in 14th century Europe changed that population quicker than any single genetic mutation I know of. It wiped out 40% of the population. Were those who survived genetically different from those who died?
I have much respect for Alex’s thoughts on exercise. He usually puts more research and thought into his writing. Check out his Sweat Science blog.
Paleo Diabetic 