New World Syndrome is a set of noncommunicable diseases brought on by consumption of rich food. Native Americans, the indigenous people of Oceania and perhaps other peoples of Asiatic origin are susceptible. It is characterized by obesity, heart disease, diabetes and shortened life span, and, of course, by a change from a traditional diet and exercise to a modern diet and a sedentary lifestyle.
It is hypothesized that the syndrome has a genetic basis resulting from an enhanced ability to store fat. The reasoning is that a population stressed by famine would tend to develop this ability. Such a population, exposed to an abundance of rich food would then be at risk from conditions which are associated with obesity.
Evidence found through the study of mitochondrial DNA suggests that there are several factors at play. Subjects of maternal descent from the above named indigenous populations have several genetic factors that provide more efficient conversion of some classes of carbohydrates into ATP. There is also indication that cellular responses to injury, muscular efficiency, and other metabolic differences may set the stage for other factors to cause the symptoms of the syndrome.
Increased rates of depression are known to produce higher rates of obesity through decreased physical activity. Coupled with a more efficient metabolism this could be a major cause of NWS symptoms within population groups of e.g. native American descent. As with all studies of the genetic underpinnings of anthropologically diverse groups, the individual circumstances may differ from case to case.
In Kosrae, an island in Micronesia, new arrivals are a curiosity, and it seemed that half the island had come to greet me and Steven Auerbach, a Manhattan-based medical epidemiologist and an officer in the U.S. Public Health Service who had worked in Micronesia in the early 1990s, when we visited last year.
The big killer in Kosrae—what some epidemiologists call NewWorld syndrome—is a constellation of maladies brought on not by microbes or parasites but by the assault of rapid Westernization on traditional cultures.
Preliminary findings suggest that European genes inherited from New England whalers and other visitors protect Kosraeans to some degree against obesity and diabetes: the more "European" an islander, it appears, the less likely he or she is to be obese or diabetic.
NewWorldSyndrome is a set of noncommunicable diseases brought on by consumption of rich food.
It is characterized by obesity, heart disease, diabetes and shortened life span, and, of course, by a change from a traditional diet and exercise to a modern diet and a sedentary lifestyle.
It is hypothesized that the syndrome has a genetic basis resulting from an enhanced ability to store fat.
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