Sept. 16, 2023
Saturday morning musings … as I enjoy my spoonfull of sugar in my coffee …

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Humans … Where genes go to die …

Seriously, over 50% of your DNA’s genetic coding genes … are dead … which makes you a lot more like the British Museum than one might imagine.**

Why? … Below, we offer some intriguing examples of our ancestor’s genes that were once robust, vibrant, productive, and quite useful, yet are now dormant, damaged wrecks, now relegated to being called “pseudo-genes” by modern molecular biologists.

Here follows some current examples, from the latest cutting-edge research from top geneticists studying the ancient roots of our current human genome:

About 61 million yrs ago (not long after the Chicxulub Meteorite wiped out critters around the planet … except some mammals & feathered bird-dinosaurs) … our earliest ancestors LOST the ability to make our own Vitamin C, because our “GULOP” gene accumulated enough damage (mutations) to stop making our key former enzyme L-Gulonolactone Oxidase …

As a result … apes & humans are pretty much the only mammals who need to eat vitamin C rich foods … like potatoes … and citrus … while almost all other mammals (except guinea pigs & bats) make their own vitamin C.

So, yes … You &I have more in common with a guinea pig … or a bat … than your dog. 😉 .

.. More on dogs, later (below).

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Another key gene that gradually accumulated enough damage over time, intact at 95 million yrs ago (when our UOX gene worked at peak efficiency) … degrading from mutations through to 41 million yrs ago, when enough mutuations accumulated to cause our UOX gene to stop functioning … caused us to stop breaking down Uric Acid.

By inactivating the UOX gene, us apes lost the key enzyme uricase, that bacteria through all other mammals make just fine.

Sounds bad, right?
Sure, higher serum Uric Acid concentrations lead to gouty-toes, and other gluttony related problems … yet … In that world of gluttony … higher serum Uric Acid levels has another curious “benefit”(?) … because elevated Uric Acid in our blood also enables us biochemically to make LOTS OF FAT from eating fructose – the normal sugar in fruits – and intentionally added in mega quantities as (artificial) Corn syrup to so many modern ‘foods’.

IOW … Ecologically, naturally, we’re programmed to eat LOTS of sugary fruits IN THE SUMMER … and to deposit lots of fat, by using our Uric Acid to turn summer-time fructose into fat … yet … The other part of the equation is that we’re supposed to STOP eating so much sugar in the WINTER … and burn off all that fat we accumulated last summer.

And yes … 41 million yrs ago when our ancestors stopped making the uricase enzyme, IT WAS during the start of A LONG COLD PERIOD … so putting on summer-fat made a lot of biological-sense, to help keep our ancestors alive through the tough winters.

And yes … US Corn farmers … and Coca Cola, Nestle, Nabisco et al have figured out how to manipulate us into depositing LOTS OF NEEDLESS excess FAT … by feeding us TONS sugars YEAR-ROUND as their added nasssty artifical High Fructose Corn Syrup … not natural sugars …

IOW … Despite what Corn farmers & Big Ag … and the Big Snack Empires want us to think … eating all that unhealthy, artificial, not-natural sugar year-round … is NOT NATURAL … 😉


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The last big group of genes that went to us Humans to die .. are no less than 11 different genes that used to code for us tasting 11 different kinds of BITTER tasting compounds … And yes, we are not the only ones losing genes, as all mammallian predators that rely on meat diets have LOST the gene to taste sweet flavors.

So, STOP feeding your dog sweets … Stop feeding them bits of donuts & Cinnabon rolls … because they do NOT taste the sweet … at all … to your pets …

**You just ~think~ your doggo likes sweets, because you like sweets …** 🤣

and curiously … Of those 11 bitter-taste genes that went to ancestral humas to die … 2 of them died only after the Bonobos-Chimpanzees split off from our ape-hominim lineage, so, curiously, we modern humans share all those dead genes with our Neaderthal & Denisovan human-cousins.


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Why did we lose those 11 total bitter taste genes, and especially losing those last 2 bitter taste genes? Bitter taste genes play a key role in us identifying toxic foods, based on their bitter tastes … So … why lose those last 2 bitter taste genes?

Think … Rhubarb … Spinach … and bitter foods, whose taste changes when we cook them … because cooking destroys some toxic compounds in food. Notice that around 2 million yrs ago, our ancestors harnessed fire … and apparently started talking.

That meant, we started cooking & eating previously-toxic foods … and our enriched MORE NUTRITIOUS cooked-food diets caused us to grow bigger brains … and with those bigger brains … we started to talk with other humans about which foods were both safe to eat

… telling other humans about which ones killed Uncle Jake … and which one made Aunt Minnie so sick.

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So … The next time you feel like drinking a whole lot of fruit juice … or sucking down some soda pop … or eating that 3’rd donut …. Remember that modern marketing … and Big Corporate greed … are abusing 3 key natural drivers that you have … from 13 (2 + 11) dead genes … as they hijack our last 91 million years of evolution

just so they can pile-up a few $Trillion more dollars. 😦

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** Really … You & I are just walking talking museums …
… full of molecular fossils … that serve no purpose. 🤣 .

~and yes~ … A few of us see that every morning when we look in the mirror … A museum-case full of fossils … looking back at you from the mirror … 😉 .

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=6831303720223384

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  Cheers,
  Dr. Steven M. Fry
  
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