Ron Hoggan wrote on 7/9:
>You may well be correct about several types of selection pressure. But I'm
>going to disagree with the position you take on dietary adaptation
>generating only weak pressure.
Genetic drift is actually NOT a type of selection pressure, but rather an
evolutionary mechanism that depends on (random) events having nothing to do
with the actual function of a gene.
I didn't mean to imply that there weren't any dietary traits capable of
generating significant selection pressure. The data on lactose intolerance
clearly suggest selective pressure. Celiac disease would be another
candidate. Still, most of the consequences of poor dietary habits
(excluding outright malnutrition and the like) tend catch up with us
somewhat later in life.
Gary