Comments on: Cancer as Evolution

By: Cancer as Evolution, part 4 « Complex Adaptive Systems

Cancer as Evolution, part 4 « Complex Adaptive Systems — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:56:49 +0000

[...] Part 1 [...]

By: The Conflict Between Complex Systems and Reductionism « Complex Adaptive Systems

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:50:35 +0000

[...] to focus more on an individual’s phenotype rather than on the molecular level. In the case of somatic cell evolution of cancer, higher-level genome alterations play a more dominant role than lower-level gene mutations (6, [...]

By: Cancer as Evolution, part 2 « Complex Adaptive Systems

Cancer as Evolution, part 2 « Complex Adaptive Systems — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:58:51 +0000

[...] as Evolution, part 2 When I posted part 1, I didn’t realize that Scientific American would be coming out with an entire special issue [...]

By: rafefurst

rafefurst — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:36:47 +0000

Ward, I did read The China Study and was quite fascinated, having recommended it to many friends since. One of the deep consequences of the somatic evolution of cancer is that ultimately cancer may not be “curable” in the sense we are used to. We may have to live with the fact that it’s an inherent part of multicellular life, and treat it like a chronic disease to be managed rather than eradicated. The best way to manage chronic diseases is to prevent them from becoming carcinogenic and life-threatening. This is where diet, exercise and environment in general come into play.

I agree that The China Study has some eye-opening things to say on the incredible importance of diet as it relates to cancer and that everyone should read the book. However I would caution people to realize that (a) diet is not the only factor and (b) the authors are not totally unbiased (I have not met a scientist yet that was).

In my own life, I have made some big changes to my diet based on The China Study. But because of (b) above and because of the fact that the body is such a complex system, I have not taken the authors recommendation to cut out all animal products entirely. Just for instance, they note that true vegans would need to supplement with B-12, but how do we know what other deficiencies would result from a strict vegan diet over time?

Another factor to consider is that because of the complexity, diet is not a one size fits all kind of thing. As you know, some ethnic groups can tolerate lactose, others cannot; some people are allergic to gluten; some people are more prone to metabolic diseases than others; the list goes on. Thus, if people’s bodies and nutritional needs and tolerances can vary so widely, it would be silly to assume that the exact same diet is going to be optimally healthy for everyone.

Again, thanks for bringing the connection between diet and cancer to the fore, and for encouraging me (and everyone else) to read The China Study, which is a truly remarkable piece of work, warts and and all.

By: Ward Pallotta

Ward Pallotta — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:20:53 +0000

The best cancer book I’ve read in recent years is The China Study. Its authors might suggest that the evolution of cancer (and other chronic disease) correlates to the world’s increasing appetite for an animal based diet.

By: rafefurst

rafefurst — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:19:47 +0000

I would highly recommend you read The Chaos Point. The author is one of the giants of version 1.0 of “systems theory” which became “complex systems theory” years later when the Santa Fe Institute opened. The Chaos Point itself is about the *potential* for impending extinction of humankind and how it might be avoided and how it’s too close to tell at this point (hence the “chaos” :-) It relies heavily on (complex) systems theory.

By: mark black

mark black — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:19:29 +0000

Hello,

I come from a sociology/politics background and write about the impending extinction of humankind and how to avoid it. To cut to the chase, my conclusion is that we need to centralize scientific understanding to the conduct of human affairs. My reading ranges far and wide – but I’ve only recently come to systems theory, and wonder at the value of spending the time to discover whether progression from lower order to higher order (and/or complex adaptive) systems might be a sound empirical basis to show the necessity of a cultural progression from hunter-gatherer – religio/social – to a scientific society.

Any thoughts or reading recommendations you might have would be greatly apprecited. In the mean time I’ll look around. Thank you.

mark black.