Survival Of The Sickest By Moalem

Have you ever wondered why you are more susceptible to a cold than a classmate who may be of a different race? It may be a result of natural selection as it impacts people living in certain countries, making them able to withstand weather or deadly diseases in their environment. However, all good things come at a cost. In Survival of the Sickest, Dr. Sharon Moalem explains that certain diseases that might affect people later in life have actually guided human evolution, enabling the species to survive long enough to reproduce. However, in today 's societies, these diseases are viewed more often as a threat, rather than a positive factor due to advances in medicine and technology.
Hemochromatosis is a disease that affects most major body systems, …show more content…
Previously, I had always thought that disease could only harm people, especially inherited diseases. Now, I realize that despite being harmful, these diseases actually helped humans to survive long enough to reproduce and continue the species by warding off diseases that are even more dangerous. When I see people on the street, I wonder, ‘How would they fare against me in terms of the plague? What hidden hereditary diseases do they have?’ From Dr. Moalem 's book, I found several sections particularly eye opening. This reading helped me realize that genetic or hereditary diseases are not always harmful in the way that we think. Some diseases are actually beneficial. Also, Dr. Moalem also discussed how certain plants with important vitamins and minerals make themselves taste bitter, or poisonous, to their consumers, which is similar to animal behavior when prey is trying to avoid a predator. These plants typically have many important vitamins and minerals, and humans avoid these vegetables no matter how beneficial they are. While reading about hemochromatosis, I found it interesting that bloodletting, a practice used for all diseases, actually helped people with hemochromatosis, instead of harming them. Typically, a patient that bled would die from infection or blood loss. In people with hemochromatosis, if helped to relieve their symptoms. Scientists would definitely make the most out of this diseases by transferring certain DNA codes and putting it in all humans, not just those with the mutation. This way, everybody would be more able to survive a theoretical "next plague" or improve their immune systems. However, the system would probably become corrupted and turn into a rich-only enhancement. All in all, Survival of the Sickest, introduced me to many new topics and increased my awareness of how mutations that harmed actually turned out to be in the better