The extreme nature of the MAN is that he or she can make another person STARVE even when there is plenty of food for everyone!
This is the short summary of the Dutch Hunger Winter!
Of course every tragedy is a learning experience and this was a goldmine for researchers! This blog is what happened the children of starving pregnant women!
Robert Sapolsky in one of his books talks about the Dutch Hunger Winter as a classic teaching example for the field of epigenetics and the developmental origins of health and disease.
For those who did not know about the The Dutch Hunger Winter or Dutch famine of 1944–1945. This was an acute, MAN-made famine that took place in the Nazi-occupied western region of the Netherlands during the final months of World War II. Lasting from November 1944 until the country’s liberation in May 1945, the crisis claimed the lives of approximately 20,000 people and severely impacted over 4.5 million citizens!
During this time pregnant Dutch women were severely deprived of calories. Sapolsky explains that the developing fetuses in their wombs underwent biological “programming” to survive.
Their metabolisms permanently altered to become highly “thrifty”—learning to hold onto every single calorie and nutrient available!
The babies and fetuses became a SPONGE for nutrients! But every thing has a price to pay!
So while this thrifty metabolism was beneficial for surviving the famine, it backfired in the modern, calorie-abundant world.
Sapolsky highlights how these individuals later faced significantly higher rates of obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease!
Furthermore, because epigenetic tags were placed on their DNA, the children of these individuals (the second generation) also demonstrated altered metabolic profiles and a heightened sensitivity to stress, even when gestated in an environment with perfectly adequate nutrition!
Sapolsky states that this historical tragedy illustrate several profound biological principles such as fetal programming in that the environment in the womb can permanently alter gene expression and organ function!
Also this leads to transgenerational epigenetics where environmental stressors experienced by a grandmother can biologically influence the grandchildren without altering the underlying DNA sequence!
Finally it makes sense being a SPONGE when the nutrients are less but being so in plenty can cause Mismatch! So the traits that promote survival in times of extreme adversity become detrimental when the environment abruptly changes to one of caloric excess!
Excess as far as talent is concerned is Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair or Laletan!
Now watch some old Laletan movie and sleep!
SHubh Ratri…
ramadocblog 