"Jim Swayze [log in to unmask] " wrote:

[snip]

> So my point.  This science is exactly what I had expected of Cordain.  And why I
> was so disappointed to see that he apparently has not read Ray, or else chose to
> ignore his revolutionary concept of the cause of obesity and other ills.

The other possibility is that Cordain has done the kindest thing
available to him. To simply ignore Ray's suggestion. I strongly suspect
that Ray has made the mistake of using scientific sounding words in an
attempt to describe something he has little understanding of.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no connection at all between the
immune system and the collection of adipose tissue on human beings. The
immune system is about defending the body from foreign organisms, the
storing of fat is about storing energy for lean times. I am not a
doctor, but I cannot imagine how the slow accumulation of fat cells is
supposed to defend against foreign organisms. I do not think Ray
demonstrated this to be a reasonable proposition - he simply stated it.

The only reference to I can find in Neanderthin regarding the connection
is the following paragraph from page 19. [My comments in square
brackets]

    "All of these immune system disorder traits are shared by obesity,"
[Sharing "traits" does not make an apple equal to, or caused by, an
orange.]

    "a condition virtually unknown among wild animals. Obesity often
     manifests as a threshold phenomenon--"
[These are a "shared traits", but they do not indicate that obesity is
an
immune response.]

    "i.e., without changing diet or exercise patterns, a person may
     become obese."
[I would like to see some references for this claim.]

    "Moreover, no matter what the diet not all people will become
     obese."
[I would like to see some references for this claim also.]

    "There also seems to be a causal link between obesity and
     heredity. If your parents are disposed to carry excess body
     fat, odds are you are also."
[This is another "shared trait", but again the conclusion, (that obesity
is caused by the immune system) does not follow from the premise
(obesity and the immune system are both related to a persons genetic
makeup). This is a classic blunder equivalent to saying that because eye
colour and "handedness" have a relationship to a persons genes,
left-handedness is *caused* by the colour of your eyes.]

Unfortunately, this is exactly that kind of gaf that would result in
most health care professionals dropping the book on the
"pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo" pile.

I have no doubt that obesity is caused by eating incorrectly. I also
have no doubt that the immune system can be sent into a spin by eating
the "wrong" things. However, I do not accept that obesity is an immune
response. Nothing I have ever read before would suggest this, and Ray
has failed to explain that conclusion.

Now, I don't know for sure - I am not a doctor, perhaps Ray *has*
discovered something truly profound, but if so he has failed to explain
the connection. Unfortunately, I suspect he has simply goofed up.


Jim.