On Feb 22, 2008, at 7:04 pm, Gale wrote:

> There is no question that PCOS (poly-cystic ovarian syndrome) has a  
> genetic cause and probably only a minute (if any) environmental  
> factor link

If this was true, a significant number of women during the paleolithic  
would have suffered from PCOS.  This I just don't believe.  Loren  
Cordain thinks it is a side effect of insulin resistance.  Just  
because it can't be fully corrected by an improved diet doesn't mean  
it wasn't caused by the faulty diet in the beginning.

Remember: ALL non-infectious diseases are ultimately genetic.   
Something in the organism has to respond to the environment.  Either  
the organism responds in a way that is beneficial for its survival, or  
in a way that makes it fall ill.  The organism's genes have no concept  
of either outcome - either the animal survives to produce offspring or  
it doesn't.

Common sense says that the number of purely genetic illnesses must be  
pretty insignificant, or individuals carrying the disadvantageous  
genes would have been weeded out long ago.  The only reason I can  
think that humans may be more susceptible to genetic disease than  
other species is that we went through a population bottle neck in the  
relatively recent past.  But maybe other similar species have too - I  
have no idea.  That's something I'd like to know more about, but I'm  
no biologist.

Ashley