Summary Of Survival Of The Sickest
Vian Wagatsuma
ID: 5335
Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem with Jonathan Prince
Vian Wagatsuma Dr. Sharon Moalem shares diseases that have a negative effect on people today, and explains how these diseases helped the human species during the worst of times in the book, Survival of the Sickest. Some diseases Dr. Moalem mentions are: hemochromatosis, diabetes, and favism. Hemochromatosis is a hereditary disease in which the body absorbs an excess amount of iron because the body’s iron regulating response is disabled. Hemochromatosis does not target specific organs, but it attacks the whole body. Symptoms of this disease include: fatigue, lethargy, reduced hormone production, heart failure, abnormal heart rhythm, an enlarged heart, abdominal pain, arthritis, …show more content…
It is carried by more than 400 million people.
Favism has the reputation to have protected people from malaria. In two large case-controlled studies, research showed that children with the African variant of G6PD deficiency had twice the resistance to P. falciparum malaria compared to children to children who didn’t have the mutation. Laboratory experiments have also shown that malarial-causing parasites preferred “normal” red blood cells compared to the G6PD-deficient red blood cells.
Question: Did favism, or G6PD enzyme deficiency, help humanity survive through malaria? Research: Favism and malaria are found in areas where fava beans were cultivated. Fava beans release free radicals that destroy red blood cells, which leads to hemolytic anemia in those who have favism. In those regions, particularly North Africa, Southern Europe and around the Mediterranean, cases of malaria are abundant. Consuming fava beans and lacking the G6PD enzymes to remove the free radicals is an essential defense to preventing malaria. Hypothesis: Favism, or G6PD enzyme deficiency, helped humanity survive through
ID: 5335
Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem with Jonathan Prince
Vian Wagatsuma Dr. Sharon Moalem shares diseases that have a negative effect on people today, and explains how these diseases helped the human species during the worst of times in the book, Survival of the Sickest. Some diseases Dr. Moalem mentions are: hemochromatosis, diabetes, and favism. Hemochromatosis is a hereditary disease in which the body absorbs an excess amount of iron because the body’s iron regulating response is disabled. Hemochromatosis does not target specific organs, but it attacks the whole body. Symptoms of this disease include: fatigue, lethargy, reduced hormone production, heart failure, abnormal heart rhythm, an enlarged heart, abdominal pain, arthritis, …show more content…
It is carried by more than 400 million people.
Favism has the reputation to have protected people from malaria. In two large case-controlled studies, research showed that children with the African variant of G6PD deficiency had twice the resistance to P. falciparum malaria compared to children to children who didn’t have the mutation. Laboratory experiments have also shown that malarial-causing parasites preferred “normal” red blood cells compared to the G6PD-deficient red blood cells.
Question: Did favism, or G6PD enzyme deficiency, help humanity survive through malaria? Research: Favism and malaria are found in areas where fava beans were cultivated. Fava beans release free radicals that destroy red blood cells, which leads to hemolytic anemia in those who have favism. In those regions, particularly North Africa, Southern Europe and around the Mediterranean, cases of malaria are abundant. Consuming fava beans and lacking the G6PD enzymes to remove the free radicals is an essential defense to preventing malaria. Hypothesis: Favism, or G6PD enzyme deficiency, helped humanity survive through