ESSAY: Darwainian Medicine

Define Darwinian medicine, and explain how this approach frames health and wellness relative to more mainstream US-style biomedicine. Explain the discordance hypothesis and describe the primary ways our information age society differs from the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA).

Then, choose a disease or condition, and using it as an example, describe the ways an evolutionary perspective may add to our understanding of that disease or condition’s causation, as well as to possible prevention/treatment approaches. What barriers might medical anthropologists face in attempting to integrate Darwinian medicine into existing US medical care systems?

ANSWER

Darwinian Medicine

Darwinian medicine, also known as evolutionary medicine, is the use of the theory of evolution to understand health problems. The modern medical practice focuses on the psychological and molecular mechanisms related to diseases and health. On the other hand, Darwinian medicine concentrates on why evolution shapes body functioning mechanisms to increase the probability of getting infections. The evolutionary approach has contributed significantly to the increased understanding of health issues such as cancer, obesity, and autoimmune diseases. The approach…

Darwinian medicine creates a platform where the evolution process is adequately understood, which helps in devising solutions for the biological issues that affect our lives.  There are a lot of instances where Darwinian medicine has been applied in the field of healthcare and have resulted in effective outcomes. Understanding the evolutionary patterns of disease-causing factors keeps researchers enlightened when dealing with pathogenic diseases. The approach is also essential in controlling hereditary health problems by providing a platform to …

Impacts of The Evolutionary Perspective to Our Understanding of Diseases

Obesity is among the health issues that the evolutionary perspective has advanced our understanding. A problem can only be solved by first identifying its cause. Therefore, the approach provides an adequate explanation of the emergence of the disease and possible interventions to address the health issue. In the normal environment, sugar and fats supply is limited, which prompts people to consume them in large quantities when encountered. Areas such as sub-Saharan Africa in ancient times had limited cases of obesity because of the minimal supply of high fat and sugar foods products. Fats provide the body with calories, twice as much as what is provided by carbohydrates, increasing the risks of obesity. In the ancient past, sugar was associated with ripe fruits, whose consumption was usually beneficial. Individuals prefer…

According to obesity evolutionary explanation, appetite regulation mechanisms are shaped by natural selection, to protect individuals during a famine, in the evolving environment. During ancient times, people had to extensively walk daily to acquire food, a process that made it difficult for individuals to accumulate excess fats. Going through sporadic times of food shortage activates a system that prepares for famine, through raising basal weight and appetite levels to exceed the starting point. The same system reacts when dieting so that weight can exceed its former level, recorded at the beginning of the diet (Trevathan, 2018).  Trying to lose weight using will power to limit food intake activates the…

Regardless of the displayed power of using evolutionary theory in understanding and solving health problems, the Darwinian approach is still not a common framework for tacking medical challenges in the United States healthcare industry. The standard barrier that leads to this dysfunction is inefficient evolutionary training in medical institutions, which can be overcome by creating curriculum goals to increase the understanding of evolution in medicine. Psychological barriers like the fear of the unknown also make it challenging to integrate the ….