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Gurven MD, Trumble BC, Stieglitz J, et al. Cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in evolutionary perspective: a critical role for helminths?. Evol Med Public Health. 2016;2016(1):338-357doi: 10.1093/emph/eow028.
Gurven, M. D., Trumble, B. C., Stieglitz, J., Blackwell, A. D., Michalik, D. E., Finch, C. E., & Kaplan, H. S. (2016). Cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in evolutionary perspective: a critical role for helminths?. Evolution, medicine, and public health, 2016(1), 338-357. https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eow028
Gurven, Michael D, et al. "Cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in evolutionary perspective: a critical role for helminths?." Evolution, medicine, and public health vol. 2016,1 (2016): 338-357. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eow028
Gurven MD, Trumble BC, Stieglitz J, Blackwell AD, Michalik DE, Finch CE, Kaplan HS. Cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in evolutionary perspective: a critical role for helminths?. Evol Med Public Health. 2016 Jan;2016(1):338-357. doi: 10.1093/emph/eow028. Epub 2016 Sep 25. PMID: 27666719; PMCID: PMC5101910.
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Evol Med Public Health. 2016 Jan;2016(1):338-357. doi: 10.1093/emph/eow028. Epub 2016 Sep 25.

Cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in evolutionary perspective: a critical role for helminths?.

Evolution, medicine, and public health

Michael D Gurven, Benjamin C Trumble, Jonathan Stieglitz, Aaron D Blackwell, David E Michalik, Caleb E Finch, Hillard S Kaplan

Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 [email protected].
  2. School of Human Evolution and Social Change & Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287.
  3. Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, 21 allée de Brienne, 31015 Toulouse Cedex 6, France.
  4. Department of Anthropology, University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.
  5. University of California, Irvine School of Medicine; Depts of Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases.
  6. Andrus Gerontology Center and Dept. Neurobiology USC College, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089.
  7. Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131.

PMID: 27666719 PMCID: PMC5101910 DOI: 10.1093/emph/eow028

Abstract

Heart disease and type 2 diabetes are commonly believed to be rare among contemporary subsistence-level human populations, and by extension prehistoric populations. Although some caveats remain, evidence shows these diseases to be unusual among well-studied hunter-gatherers and other subsistence populations with minimal access to healthcare. Here we expand on a relatively new proposal for why these and other populations may not show major signs of these diseases. Chronic infections, especially helminths, may offer protection against heart disease and diabetes through direct and indirect pathways. As part of a strategy to insure their own survival and reproduction, helminths exert multiple cardio-protective effects on their host through their effects on immune function and blood lipid metabolism. Helminths consume blood lipids and glucose, alter lipid metabolism, and modulate immune function towards Th-2 polarization - which combined can lower blood cholesterol, reduce obesity, increase insulin sensitivity, decrease atheroma progression, and reduce likelihood of atherosclerotic plaque rupture. Traditional cardiometabolic risk factors, coupled with the mismatch between our evolved immune systems and modern, hygienic environments may interact in complex ways. In this review, we survey existing studies in the non-human animal and human literature, highlight unresolved questions and suggest future directions to explore the role of helminths in the etiology of cardio-metabolic disease.

© The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Foundation for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.

Keywords: atherosclerosis; diabetes; ecological immunology; helminths; hygiene hypothesis; old friends hypothesis

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