Diabetes -- Darwinism in our time?

I would like to hear everyone’s thoughts about this Op-Ed piece published in the L.A. Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-critser30aug30,0,1360559.story

I think the author is being a bit dramatic. I have studied darwinism and evoltion as part of my anthropology degree and it was odd when then convo going on class turned to me. As I make sure everyone around me is aware I am a diabetic, they all started asking questions…like the rest of my medical background and such!

well you have to figure, if it was still a very primitive world aka no medicine, I wouldnt have lasted to my 5th birthday since I got scarlet fever when I was four, then i went deaf from it, so who knows what could have killed me if i lived out in the woods and some crazy animal was charging at me and I couldnt hear it, then with the whole diabetes thing, I still wouldnt have made it past my 11th birthday. And Im a prime example of doing the opposite of darwinism, especially since I plan on reproducing and therfore “tainting” the gene pool.

Lucky for me, a question about this was on the exam and I was the only one who got it right.

just some twisted humor for you

Darwinism is only truly applicable to the reproductive years… and type 2 diabetes is much more common after the 30s. I wonder why they didn’t address that in the article.

I think that the author here was being slightly over the top for purposes of drama – that is, I don’t believe that he is seriously examining diabetes in terms of evolution. But, if he were serious, he would be incorrect to say that diabetes has anything to do with evolution because (1) humans control their environment to the extent that natural influences rarely effect reproduction on a large scale, and (2) Type II diabetes rarely affects reproduction since it occurs in middle age most frequently.

Anyway, the article goes on to make some nice points about the growing dangers of type II diabetes in the young, and I give the author credit for actually making the important distinction between type I and II.

I agree that the article is a bit overly dramatic, and I do NOT agree that obseity and the “American Diet” is the sole cause of Type II Diabetes - now when researchers are finding genes associated with the developement of Type II Diabetes. It’s more than diet and its not just “survivial of the fittest” (besides which - modern medicine has LOTS of tools and tricks to pick our pockets and ensure we do survive!) I find his analogy a bit off, I guess. That being said, I do think he makes some very good points. Children SHOULD be educated about obesity and diabetes at an early age. I applaud the recent decision to remove soft drink machines from elementary schools in California - way to go, Arnold! Everyone should be learning that carbs and sugars will help give you diabetes and make you fat and give you heart disease. It is time to teach everyone about Diabetes - I DO agree with that!