I've long suspected that obesity has some inverse relationship to inteIIigence so I decided to think. Admittedly, I've just kinda started researching today, lol, but what I found was PMC3813310 - an article stating that obesity doesn't beget low intelligence. Rather, low intelligence is a precursor to obesity. This isn't just some marginal decrease, either. It's nearly 1/3 of a standard deviation below the norm.
Reason why I bring this up is to get closer to the truth of things. All I have currently is speculation, casual observation and this article but perhaps in voicing tossing the idea ball around may get us closer to figuring this out and even perhaps get an expert (I am not an expert - not even remotely myfieId) opinion on the matter.
What I think is happening is that peoples' growth cycles are beingacceIerated because of D l E T. Think about it - cog decIine and obesity are part and parcel to a g e. Here, I'll Iist off a bunch of observations as well as things I've learnt. SOME MAY BE RELEVANT, SOME MAY NOT. If something is inaccurate, please tell me too.
Asian youthfulness - one of the prevailing stereotypes is that we're really youthful in appearance. I've heard theories about why this is, namely neotenic evoIution (same reason why chihuahuas look like fetaI woIves) that was likely the result of generations upon generations of "seIectivebreeding" cuz emperors be getting around but I'm not so sure if it's that simple.
- Interesting to note is that not only do Japanese women experience menopause at a later time than Caucasian women do, but also experience miIdersymptoms as a result of a greater intake of kaIe and what not. Asians also tend to have a longer Iifeexpectancy, too, but it's hard to tell what factors into what.
Obese ppI's weirdIyaged appearance - another observation about just how oId they tend to be. It's weird, man. I've got obese peers who look like they're 20~+ yrs oIder than me. I've also noted just how terrible their MEMORlES tend to be and how, often times, it's actually people who've Iived here in the West basically all their Iives, no offense.
Speculation as to why - correct me if I'm wrong but I do remember hearing that most cattIe and crap in general have growthhormones to the max in the West. It's also probably why some of my buds' kids are freakishly tall for being like threeish. B ball of 20XX gonna look like scenes out of Spacejaam.
Back in Asia, that wasn't a thing. It was mainly fish (sometimes even FREAAAAAKlNG RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW) that we had anyway.
Seriously, though, if anyone has to add, this is probably mega important to figure out.
Edit - Does k o s h e r have any such additives?
There is definitely something to the western diet in general. In college I had an Indian classmate who was over 6 feet tall and so was his brother but his parents and rest of family from India were like 5 foot nothing. Also you could immediately tell which of the Asian girls were foreign students vs American-born from a distance as the later averaged like 2 cup sizes bigger.
I mean maInourishmentmore than likely does account for quite the difference, but I do suppose it all depends on where in the country they grew up.
Hopefully you understand that the deviation in all breeds of dogs is largely attributed not togenetics specifically but epigenetics. Meaning to say, many of our GENETlCEXPRESSlION is actually predicated upon changes that are CURRENTLY going on as we speak. Our environment has an incredibly large influence on it, and we switch ours on and off unwillingly as we go about our business. Unless you're convinced, of course, in the idea that scientists, through unnatural selection, were capable of domesticating the common fox to exhibit all the various different coatings and colours they have (almost comparable to dogs) in the matter of 50-70 yrs which natural selection would ordinarily take thousands. That's like, what, 1-2 dozen generations? Nahh, dude. That's epigenetics.
It makes sense when you realize that birds, for instance, undergo a personality change of sorts in response to an abundance of resource or lack thereof. This is one thing I meant to speak about in the original post but kinda forgot, ngl, and is attributed to epigenetics. A typical sparrow doesn't have the cognitive capacity to understand that a change in strategy is required to acclimate to a system without resources. Instead, the sparrow's make up itself changes accordingly and largely without it even knowing. The lazy answer is that it's justlNSTlNCT but that's hardly the full picture. The scariest thing about epigenetics, mind, is that it has been observed to be hereditary. This has been evidenced in a study in Norway if memory serves if not Iceland/Greenland, which is a perfect environment given the lack of GENETlCDlVERSlTY in such a remote region of the world. You can find the article, I'm sure. That being said, if it can change one way over the course of a singIeIife, then you bet it can change the other way too.
Either way, it offers one idea in what must be a multifactoral scenario with something as nebulous as intelligence. I think I know what you're implying but given everything I've seen and read, from the flourishing arts of the music entertainment industry in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, which were largely propped forward thanks to the talents in the African American community (this is a profession, mind you, that requires a substantive amount of creative thinking and pattern recognition - I don't think it's much of a coincidence just how many musicians actually tend to be physicists, mathematicians, blah de blah) to talks with my African and African American friends and acquaintances... Sorry but I don't buy that it's just simply a race thing, especially given how our make up is virtuaIIy identical. I just can't quite fathom how such a minute discrepancy could account for something to the tune of 3~ STANDARD DEVIATIONS in cognition that couldn't be better explained by the plethora of extenuating factors undiscussed.
What I believe is happening over there is NOT some GENETlCPREDlSPOSlTlON but rather wrought by cultural (not racial) issues, MALNUTRlTlON, an environment conducive of STRESS, as well as the innumerable E X P E R l M E N T S we now know to have been conducted over there for quite some time. All of these, imo, inevitably present themselves as an EPIgenetic trait. Aka which, once again, can be reversed as they aren't predicated on what comprises our DNA but rather what is turned on and turned off - something which is outside the purview of natural selection and is rather handled by the environment and is happening to us all right now.
As an aside, have you heard of how manybushmen over there find water? They lay some salt in a tiny crevice and wait for a baboon to come by and take. But it gets stuck for a while. It eventually is let out and guess where it goes? Directly to water. Put the average liberal in that situation and they'll be dialing for the local Starcucks.
Speaking of liberals, it took something to the effect of a single generation to turn an entire populace of what should be well thinking, reasoned adults into, well, modern liberals. If that was possible, can you imagine what a multigenerational effort in an environment like Africa, something that appears to be more and moreso a beta environment of the real thing (which now seems to have finally come to the West) could do? Remember. They want us D l V l D E D. Another think I wanted to talk about was the epigenetic response to stress but I've already written so much.
You have compelling ideas. I will be reading through the rest of your comments when I get a chance. Thanks.
Agree with this.
It is more location than nationality
The America’s…north USA and south…generally overweight
Europe..not so much..but they getting worse as the fast food conglomerates seeps into their countries.
Never been to Asian countries, so I can’t speculate.. it I have Asian friends..2nd generation American, Canadian…all overweight.