World's No. 1 Exercise Professor Our Comfortable Lives Are Causing Cancer, The Truth About Running, Hand Sanitiser Is Making You Sick!

In this conversation, Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman discusses the concept of mismatch diseases, which are prevalent in Western society due to our lifestyles being out of sync with our evolutionary past. He explains that many common ailments, such as obesity, heart disease, and back pain, arise from modern comforts and sedentary behaviors that our ancestors did not experience. Lieberman emphasizes the importance of physical activity and diet in preventing these diseases, highlighting that excessive comfort can lead to physical decline. Additionally, he touches on the role of energy in developmental processes like puberty and the consequences of our hyper-sanitized environments, which may contribute to autoimmune diseases. The talk concludes with a reflection on the personal and philosophical implications of dying for a cause or loved one.

• Mismatch diseases are conditions that arise due to a discrepancy between our evolved biology and modern lifestyle.
• Chronic stress, obesity, heart disease, and many cancers are examples of mismatch diseases.
• Modern comfort and lack of physical challenges lead to weak backs, exemplified by the prevalence of back pain.
• Sedentary behavior, both at work and leisure, increases disease risk.
• Lack of physical activity leads to insufficient skeletal growth and eventual bone loss after the age of 25-30.
• Highly sanitized environments contribute to the development of allergies and autoimmune diseases due to under-challenged immune systems.
• Wealthier countries exhibit higher rates of cancer, influenced by diet, physical activity, and stress.
• Migration studies show increased cancer rates among those who move from countries with lower to higher standards of living, such as Bangladeshi women moving to England.

"The vast majority of us in the western world will die from a mismatched disease."

This quote underscores the prevalence of mismatch diseases in developed countries, suggesting that the majority of deaths are due to lifestyle and environmental factors that differ from our evolutionary adaptations.

"We know that people who sit a lot at work, but then also sit a lot in their leisure time, run way more risk of disease."

This quote emphasizes the health risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle, which is common in modern societies but not aligned with our evolutionary needs for regular physical activity.

"Also, famous studies show that the richer the country, the higher the rate of cancer."

This quote suggests a correlation between a country's wealth and the incidence of cancer, potentially due to lifestyle factors associated with affluence that are not well-suited to our evolutionary biology.

• Daniel Lieberman is a Harvard professor of human evolutionary biology.
• His work focuses on understanding the human body and its evolution, particularly in relation to health and disease.
• He studies the evolution of human physical activity, diet, and other bodily functions.
• Understanding evolutionary history is key to addressing modern health issues like obesity, heart disease, and cancer.
• Evolutionary origins provide insight into potential solutions for these problems.

"I'm a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University."

Daniel Lieberman introduces himself and his field of study, which is relevant to understanding the health crises of today.

"If you understand why we are the way we are, you have to understand that evolutionary history, and if you want to solve problems, if you want to deal with big issues that we face today, obesity, heart disease, cancer, violence, aggression, all of these things have an evolutionary origin, and an evolutionary origin is crucial to helping us come up with solutions."

This quote highlights the importance of evolutionary biology in devising strategies to tackle contemporary health issues, as many of these problems can be traced back to our evolutionary past.

• Humans are often perceived as physically fragile compared to other animals, but this is somewhat exaggerated.
• Our endurance capabilities are impressive; we can outrun most animals over long distances.
• Humans have a unique ability to throw, kick, and perform activities that other animals cannot.
• As ultimate omnivores, humans can consume a wide range of foods, thanks to our digestive systems and food processing technologies.
• We can adapt our diets to be vegan or carnivorous, and our livers can convert different macronutrients as needed.

"As far as diet is concerned, we're the ultimate omnivores."

This quote reflects the adaptability of the human diet, with our ability to consume and thrive on a vast array of food sources.

"We can turn fat into carbohydrates, carbohydrates into fat."

The quote demonstrates the metabolic flexibility of humans, enabling us to utilize various macronutrients for energy regardless of dietary composition.

• The notion that all answers to modern health can be found in hunter-gatherer lifestyles is an oversimplification, referred to as "paleo fantasy."
• Hunter-gatherers experience violence and illness just like other humans; they are not perfect role models.
• Natural selection prioritizes reproductive success over health or happiness.
• While hunter-gatherers may not suffer from certain modern diseases, their lifestyles were adapted for reproductive success in their specific environments, not necessarily for optimal health by today's standards.

"We evolved to be hunter gatherers. Our ancestors were hunter gatherers for millions of years, but the adaptations they have are primarily and first and foremost about reproductive success."

This quote clarifies that our evolutionary adaptations were geared towards survival and reproduction, not necessarily long-term health as we conceive it today.

"So you can't just assume that because our ancestors did something, it's optimal for health."

The quote challenges the assumption that ancestral behaviors are inherently healthy, reminding us that they were shaped by different environmental pressures and needs.

• Humans began eating meat around 2.5 million years ago, and it played a significant role in our evolutionary history.
• Even our closest relatives, chimpanzees, consume meat occasionally.
• The human digestive system and dietary flexibility allow for a wide range of food choices, including meat.
• Hunter-gatherers had diverse diets, consuming hundreds of different plants and animals, depending on their environment.
• The ability to process food through cooking and other methods enabled humans to thrive in various habitats.

"Humans started eating meat about two and a half million years ago. There's no question."

This quote confirms the historical significance of meat in the human diet, dating back to the early stages of our evolution.

"The fact of the matter is that we evolved to eat just about everything. We are the ultimate omnivores."

The quote emphasizes the adaptability of the human species when it comes to diet, with our evolutionary history supporting a wide range of dietary habits.

• The transition to bipedalism around 7 million years ago made early humans slower and less adept at hunting compared to four-legged animals.
• Evidence of hunting and tool use appears in the archaeological record between 3 and 2 million years ago.
• The emergence of hunting and gathering was transformative, coinciding with the evolution of the genus Homo and the development of more human-like bodies.
• The combination of extractive foraging, hunting, cooperation, and tool use marked a significant shift in human evolution.

"That's really, I think, one of the most important shifts that occurred in human evolution."

This quote highlights the fundamental impact of adopting a hunter-gatherer lifestyle on the development of the human species.

"And that's also, incidentally, when we see this shift in our bodies, right, when we're going from being more essentially more ape like australopiths... to basically bodies that are more or less like yours and mine."

The quote connects the changes in lifestyle to physical evolution, indicating that the hunter-gatherer way of life was a driving force behind the development of modern human anatomy.

• The external nose in humans evolved as a humidifier, helping to temper the air we breathe.
• The structure of the nose causes the air to become turbulent, increasing contact with mucous membranes and allowing for better heat and moisture exchange.
• This adaptation likely occurred around 2 million years ago and was beneficial for our ancestors' endurance in hot climates.
• The conversation on breathing and nasal strips lacks strong scientific evidence, and the idea that nasal breathing alone can solve health problems is questioned by Lieberman.

"That's because of this external nose. So that happens around 2 million years ago or so."

The quote explains the evolutionary significance of the external nose in humans, linking it to an adaptation for more efficient breathing.

"The idea that, for example, when you run, you should only breathe out through your nose, that's just silly."

This quote challenges popular notions about nasal breathing during exercise, emphasizing the evolutionary basis for mouth breathing as a heat-dumping mechanism.

• Humans have evolved to cool down by sweating, a method different from panting, which is used by most other mammals.
• The density of ecrine sweat glands in humans is much higher than in monkeys and chimpanzees, and the loss of fur allows for more effective evaporation and cooling.
• This adaptation was crucial for our ancestors, particularly for endurance activities like hunting in hot environments.

"We've effectively turned our entire bodies into a tongue, essentially, and so we can dump amazing amounts of heat when we're physically active in hot environments."

The quote illustrates the uniqueness of human thermoregulation through sweating, comparing the skin's function to a tongue's ability to cool the body through evaporation.

• Early hominins may have foraged during the hottest part of the day to avoid predators.
• Australopiths, being slower, would have benefited from the ability to dump heat effectively.
• Sweating and thermoregulation could have been adaptations that predated hunting.
• The lack of skin preservation in fossils makes it difficult to determine when these adaptations developed.

"And it's possible that our Australopith ancestors, before hunting started, because, remember, they're two-legged creatures, right? And they're not very fast, so maybe in the middle of the day, when it was really hot, that was the best time for them to go out and get food, because that's the time of day when carnivores that would love to chase them."

This quote explains the hypothesis that early hominins adapted to forage during the hottest times to avoid faster predators, indicating a possible evolutionary reason for our advanced thermoregulatory capabilities.

• Brain size in early hominins was relatively small, similar to that of chimpanzees.
• A significant increase in brain size began around 2 million years ago, coinciding with the advent of hunting and gathering.
• The increase in energy availability from meat and other foods allowed for the evolution of larger brains.
• Larger brains are metabolically expensive, requiring about 20% of our metabolism at rest.

"Starting around 2 million years ago, brain size just starts to shoot up if you look on a graph, right? And that's, of course, around the time we started hunting, but it's really the time we have hunting and gathering."

This quote outlines the correlation between the development of hunting and gathering practices and the rapid increase in brain size, suggesting that the nutritional benefits of these practices played a key role in human brain evolution.

• Human infants are born with high levels of body fat to ensure a constant energy supply for the brain.
• Body fat in humans serves important functions for brain energy supply, reproduction, and survival.
• Human females have higher body fat percentages compared to most animals, which is crucial for nursing offspring.
• The ability to store fat is a fundamental human adaptation, not present to the same extent in other species.

"A fat baby is an essential, fundamental human adaptation."

This quote emphasizes the importance of body fat in newborns for ensuring sufficient energy for the brain's development, highlighting its role as a key adaptation in human evolution.

• Humans did not evolve to diet; our physiology is geared towards gaining and using fat when necessary.
• Dieting triggers a starvation response, increasing cortisol levels and causing hunger, especially for high-energy foods like sugar.
• Cortisol also leads to fat storage in visceral deposits, which can be inflammatory and detrimental to health.

"We never evolved to diet. We evolved to put that fat on."

This quote captures the evolutionary perspective on why dieting is challenging, as our bodies are naturally inclined to accumulate fat rather than lose it without a survival need.

• Fat is not only an energy store but also an endocrine organ that affects hormone levels.
• Low body fat can lead to decreased estrogen levels and amenorrhea, affecting fertility.
• The body is sensitive to energy availability, impacting reproductive readiness and the menstrual cycle.
• Stress and physical activity can also influence reproductive hormones and fertility.

"So there's a trade-off in energy between fat and brains. As we're growing, so big brains and fat bodies are intimately connected."

This quote connects the energy trade-offs between brain development and body fat, illustrating the delicate balance of energy allocation during growth and the importance of fat for both brain function and fertility.

• Chronic stress and persistently high cortisol levels have numerous negative health effects.
• Cortisol is meant for acute stress responses, not long-term elevation, which can lead to fat deposition in unhealthy areas and immune suppression.
• Psychosocial stressors like racism and discrimination can elevate cortisol and lead to health issues.

"Cortisol also turns your immune system down. Cortisol has all kinds of negative effects when it's long term and persistently high."

This quote explains the adverse effects of prolonged cortisol elevation, which can suppress the immune system and contribute to various health problems, highlighting the impact of chronic stress on the body.

• Most modern diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, are considered mismatch diseases.
• Mismatch diseases arise from novel environmental conditions for which humans are inadequately adapted.
• Cultural evolution outpaces biological evolution, leading to an increase in mismatch diseases.
• Many mismatch diseases are preventable through lifestyle changes like diet and exercise.

"The vast majority of us in the western world will die from a mismatch disease."

This quote underscores the prevalence of mismatch diseases in modern society and their role as leading causes of death, pointing to the need for lifestyle changes to combat these preventable conditions.

• In the early 1800s, a study at Kingham Palace found that officers had a higher percentage of myopia compared to foot soldiers.
• The initial belief was that reading caused myopia, but later studies indicated that spending time indoors during youth was the actual cause.
• Myopia is not considered a significant health issue since it can be easily corrected with glasses, having little impact on overall health or longevity.

"There was a study done in the early 1800s which showed that it was the officers who had a higher percentage. Like a large number of the officers had to wear glasses. But the foot soldiers were all fine."

This quote explains the historical observation that led to the study of myopia and its causes, highlighting a difference in myopia prevalence between officers and foot soldiers.

• Myopia can be corrected with glasses or LASIK surgery, though these are treatments for the symptoms rather than the cause.
• The approach of treating symptoms rather than causes is common for many diseases, not just myopia.

"Well, here's the thing. What we're doing in no myopia, you can get lasik surgery, and there are some things you can do, very expensive. Most people can't afford it, right. But the point is that we're treating the symptom."

This quote emphasizes that current myopia treatments focus on alleviating symptoms instead of addressing the underlying cause, which is a broader issue within medical practice.

• Many current medical treatments address the symptoms of "mismatch diseases" rather than preventing them.
• The concept of "disevolution" suggests that by treating symptoms, we allow these diseases to remain prevalent and sometimes worsen.
• This approach may inadvertently contribute to an evolution where diseases persist due to our ability to manage them rather than prevent them.

"So what we're causing, in my opinion, kind of a new form of evolution. I call this disevolution, whereby we're treating the symptoms of mismatched diseases, thereby enabling those diseases to remain prevalent."

This quote introduces the idea of "disevolution," where the focus on symptom management over prevention could be influencing the prevalence of certain diseases.

• There is still selection occurring in human evolution, but it is slow.
• Modern behaviors, such as dietary changes and physical inactivity, can influence our health and potentially our evolution.

"There is a little bit of selection going on. I mean, you can't stop selection. It's like gravity. It happens, but it's slow."

This quote acknowledges that natural selection is an ongoing process, though its pace is slow, implying that our current lifestyle choices may have long-term evolutionary consequences.

• Chewing habits affect jaw development, with softer foods contributing to smaller jaws.
• Smaller jaws today may lead to more dental malocclusions, but these are generally treatable with orthodontics.

"So how you chewing affects the shape of how your jaw grows."

This quote connects dietary habits and the physical act of chewing to the development of jaw structure, suggesting that modern diets may be influencing our anatomy.

• A diet high in sugar and saturated fats, combined with physical inactivity, increases the risk of heart disease and other health issues.
• There is potential to control environmental factors that contribute to disease, emphasizing the importance of prevention over treatment.

"These are all aspects of our environment that we have the potential to control better and to prevent disease."

This quote reinforces the idea that lifestyle choices play a significant role in disease prevention, highlighting the need for a proactive approach to health.

• Society has developed a habit of using medication to address health problems rather than preventing them.
• This approach can reduce quality of life, increase healthcare costs, and disproportionately affect disadvantaged populations.

"That's the fundamental argument of making about disevolution, that it's expedient to treat the symptoms of a problem rather than its cause."

The quote critiques the tendency to prioritize immediate symptom relief over addressing the root causes of health issues, which can lead to broader societal and economic costs.

• Cancer is not entirely a mismatch disease, as it can occur in any multicellular species.
• However, cancer rates are influenced by environmental factors such as diet, physical activity, and exposure to carcinogens.
• High-energy environments and lifestyles can increase the likelihood of cancer.

"Cancer is essentially a disease of evolution going wrong."

This quote explains cancer as a result of cellular mutations leading to unchecked growth, a process that can be exacerbated by certain environmental and lifestyle factors.

• The number of menstrual cycles a woman experiences in her lifetime is linked to the risk of hormone-sensitive cancers.
• Modern family planning and smaller family sizes have increased the number of menstrual cycles compared to historical norms, potentially raising cancer risks.

"Every time you go through a menstrual cycle, your body is being exposed to high levels of these hormones."

This quote connects the frequency of menstrual cycles to increased exposure to hormones that can elevate the risk of certain cancers, such as breast and ovarian cancer.

• The body stores energy in the form of fat within adipocytes, which are limited in number and expand as they store more fat.
• Excessive fat storage, particularly visceral fat, can lead to health issues due to chronic inflammation and associated diseases.
• Fat is essential for life, but the balance between storing and burning fat is crucial for health.

"So every little fat cell in your body is like a little balloon filled with fat, and it's there to be used."

This quote describes the function of adipocytes in storing energy and the potential health problems that arise when they become overfilled, leading to inflammation and disease.

• Fasting and ketogenic diets are popular for weight loss and health benefits, but their long-term effectiveness and mechanisms are not fully understood.
• Fasting involves prolonged negative energy balance, which may have health benefits, but must be balanced with periods of positive energy balance.
• The ketogenic diet uses ketone bodies as an alternative energy source to glucose, which may not have the same repair mechanisms as negative energy balance.

"Fasting is just a prolonged state of negative energy balance."

This quote clarifies the concept of fasting as an extended period where the body uses stored energy, which could have potential health benefits, though these are still under investigation.

• Modern society's pursuit of comfort may be contributing to physical inactivity and the prevalence of mismatch diseases.
• Comfortable lifestyles do not necessarily equate to better health and may hinder physical development, especially in children.

"We have this idea that comfort is somehow good for you. Where does that come from?"

This quote questions the assumption that comfort is inherently beneficial, suggesting that it may actually be detrimental to health by promoting inactivity and convenience over physical exertion.

• There is evidence that children today are less physically fit compared to past generations.
• Data from the Presidential Fitness Test shows a decline in fitness levels over the decades.
• Army recruiters report a decrease in the physical fitness of new recruits.

"Kids today are less fit. Absolutely. Ask any army recruiter."

This quote highlights the observable decline in physical fitness among the younger population as confirmed by both long-term data and current military recruitment experiences.

• Osteoporosis rates are increasing due to insufficient skeletal loading during growth.
• Weight-bearing exercise is crucial for bone mass accrual, especially before the age of 25-30.
• Lack of exercise in youth leads to lower peak bone mass and higher osteoporosis risk.
• Exercise in later life helps prevent bone loss by suppressing bone-resorbing cells.

"Not enough exercise when you're young, you have less peak bone mass. Not enough exercise when you stay old, your bones are going to lose mass at a more rapid rate."

This quote emphasizes the importance of exercise throughout life for maintaining bone health and preventing osteoporosis, explaining the biological process of bone growth and loss.

• Tennis players show a natural experiment of how physical loading affects bone density.
• The arm used to hit the ball in tennis players can be up to 40% thicker due to increased loading.
• This demonstrates the body's capacity to adapt to physical demands.

"The arm that you use, which is whacking the ball, that's getting more loading than the arm that you simply use to throw the ball in the air."

The quote illustrates how targeted physical activity can lead to significant physiological changes, such as increased bone thickness in the context of tennis players.

• Processed foods contribute to reduced jaw size due to less chewing demand.
• Jaws have shrunk by about 6% since the advent of processed foods.
• Reduced jaw size leads to increased rates of malocclusion and orthodontic issues.

"Our jaws have shrunk by about 6% since we started processing all our food, because we're just loading our jaws less."

This quote connects dietary habits, specifically the consumption of processed foods, to changes in skeletal structure and subsequent dental health issues.

• The age of puberty onset is influenced by energy availability during growth.
• Historical data shows the age of menarche has decreased from 16 to around 12-12.5 years.
• The secular trend in earlier maturity is linked to increased energy intake, especially in more developed areas.

"How much energy you have when you're growing up affects the rate at which you grow and the rate and your ability to switch from growth to reproduction."

This quote explains the relationship between energy availability in childhood and the timing of puberty, with implications for reproductive development.

• Increased sitting, especially during leisure time, is associated with higher risks of disease.
• Intermittent movement throughout the day is beneficial for metabolic health.
• The Hadza, a hunter-gatherer group, sit as much as Westerners but move more frequently, mitigating health risks.

"People who sit more, that can be an issue. But there's two issues."

This quote acknowledges the potential health problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle and distinguishes between sitting at work versus leisure time sitting.

• Weak back muscles and lack of endurance are primary predictors of back pain.
• Modern comforts such as supportive chairs contribute to reduced back strength.
• Strengthening back muscles is essential for preventing back pain.

"Having strong back muscles is the way, really, to prevent back pain."

The quote conveys the importance of maintaining back strength to avoid common complaints like back pain, highlighting the role of muscle endurance.

• Understanding evolutionary mismatches can inform lifestyle choices.
• Actions derived from this understanding include more movement, healthier eating, and stress management.
• Awareness of the cultural evolution driving mismatch diseases can help break the cycle of treating symptoms rather than causes.

"We need to be really aware of this vicious cycle that we've created in our modern world."

This quote suggests that a deeper understanding of the evolutionary context of our behaviors can lead us to make healthier choices and potentially prevent mismatch diseases.

• Many marketed products may not provide significant benefits and could have unintended consequences.
• Being skeptical and questioning the necessity and impact of cosmetic products is advised.

"Just be skeptical."

The quote encourages a critical approach to the consumption of cosmetic products and the claims made by those selling them.

• Over-sanitization may lead to an increase in allergies and autoimmune diseases due to an under-challenged immune system.
• The hygiene hypothesis suggests that exposure to a certain level of pathogens is necessary for a healthy immune response.

"People who grow up, especially in more sanitized environments... are much more likely to develop allergies and various kinds of autoimmune diseases."

This quote discusses the potential negative consequences of excessive cleanliness on the immune system, supporting the hygiene hypothesis.

• The willingness to risk one's life for loved ones or the greater good of humanity is a personal and situational decision.
• Theoretical considerations of self-sacrifice may differ from actual decisions in critical moments.

"I would certainly be willing to risk dying if it really had an enormous benefit for humankind."

The quote reflects on the profound question of self-sacrifice, acknowledging that the true answer may only be known when faced with the actual situation.