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Stress hormones in our diet may be a missing link between food and wellness

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Re: Stress hormones in our diet may be a missing link between food and wellness

#21

Post by Panoramix »

macinjosh wrote: post #16

Are we supposed to believe that the wild animals our ancestors hunted were not consistently under stress? I think living in the food chain pretty much ensures experiences of stress. Both of hunger and the threat of being food for something else. Do some people think nature before modern human agriculture was a happy go lucky place where the creatures experienced little or no adversity? Hope not!

I'm not sure I got your point. They were under severe stress for sure. So what? Even if that was very damaging somehow, our ancestors anyway died very young and in not very sophisticated ways.

Re: Stress hormones in our diet may be a missing link between food and wellness

#22

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

allovernow wrote: post #18

This would have interesting implications for folklore common in some East Asian countries, particularly China, where meat flavor is "enhanced" by animal suffering at time of death. I must say the practices are abhorrent - particularly regarding the slaughter of intelligent, sensitive animals like dogs and pigs.

The article make mention of flavour, and I don't think you need to try to scientifically rationalize what can be sufficiently explained by human cruelty. In fact, based upon these findings I'd expect eating tortured meat to be less enjoyable than that relaxed kind.

Re: Stress hormones in our diet may be a missing link between food and wellness

#23

Post by efoto »

macinjosh wrote: post #16

Are we supposed to believe that the wild animals our ancestors hunted were not consistently under stress? I think living in the food chain pretty much ensures experiences of stress. Both of hunger and the threat of being food for something else. Do some people think nature before modern human agriculture was a happy go lucky place where the creatures experienced little or no adversity? Hope not!

I would not be this dismissive, considering the studies showing starkly different effects of acute vs chronic stress, for example [1].

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3788324/

Re: Stress hormones in our diet may be a missing link between food and wellness

#24

Post by heyoni »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #11

I don't know how this would make sense from an evolutionary perspective - once you kill and eat something you want to rest and recover, not assimilate the stress and give yourself anxiety so that you don't recover after the meal.

Evolution is really only concerned with procreation and not much else beyond that. It definitely doesn't care if you feel stressed or suffer some inflammation after a meal.

Re: Stress hormones in our diet may be a missing link between food and wellness

#25

Post by zasz »

macinjosh wrote: post #16

Are we supposed to believe that the wild animals our ancestors hunted were not consistently under stress? I think living in the food chain pretty much ensures experiences of stress. Both of hunger and the threat of being food for something else. Do some people think nature before modern human agriculture was a happy go lucky place where the creatures experienced little or no adversity? Hope not!

Yes, actually. Animals in the wild don't experience _chronic_ stress. I recommend Robert Sapolsky's book "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers."

Re: Stress hormones in our diet may be a missing link between food and wellness

#27

Post by michael2l »

Funny how we want to take an incredibly complex system and boil it down to 1+1=2. We think we're really advanced when we throw in 3rd or 4th step into the math equation. But not surprisingly this sort of reductionism leads to people being equally certain of exactly opposite conclusions. To the point they'll belittle the other person's simplistic understanding while completely missing the simplicity of their own model.

Re: Stress hormones in our diet may be a missing link between food and wellness

#28

Post by elfexec »

the_jeremy wrote: post #17
macinjosh wrote: post #16

Are we supposed to believe that the wild animals our ancestors hunted were not consistently under stress? I think living in the food chain pretty much ensures experiences of stress. Both of hunger and the threat of being food for something else. Do some people think nature before modern human agriculture was a happy go lucky place where the creatures experienced little or no adversity? Hope not!

I'm sure being a wild animal means some level of stress. I'm also sure it is nothing compared to the deplorable conditions in which factory farm animals are raised. Your comparison feels like talking about soldiers with PTSD and then saying "all humans have jobs and deadlines and they depend on these for their livelihood! All humans have stress, how are soldiers different?" I have no desire to look for images of how…

> Your comparison feels like talking about soldiers with PTSD and then saying "all humans have jobs and deadlines and they depend on these for their livelihood! All humans have stress, how are soldiers different?"

Wouldn't the animals in nature be more like soldiers with PTSD and livestock be more like humans?

> I have no desire to look for images of how disgusting the living conditions and lives of these animals are in an attempt to prove this, but you are welcome to.

Are they any better than the animals in nature being eaten while alive?

> There is no doubt in my mind it is far worse than their state in the wild.

Then you don't know what it is like in the wild. Ever wonder why you don't live out in the wild but rather live in human factory farms instead?

The vast majority of livestock don't live like the few cherrypicked photos/videos pushed by "activists/propagandists". Just like the vast majority of animals in the wild don't live wonderful lives.

Re: Stress hormones in our diet may be a missing link between food and wellness

#29

Post by jariel »

the_jeremy wrote: post #5

> In plants, the predominant stress hormone is ethylene. Wikipedia: "During the life of the plant, ethylene production is induced during certain stages of growth such as germination, ripening of fruits, abscission of leaves, and senescence of flowers." Ethylene the main way to ripen fruits, on the vine or after-the-fact. > ethylene, a plant stress hormone known to trigger stress responses in microbiomes, including in…

The consumption of hormones which cause a major adjustment in our endrocine functions in whatever direction is definitely harmful though. Just because it may cause lower cortisol baselines in some manner is 'not good' at very least, and there surely will be other side effects.

Re: Stress hormones in our diet may be a missing link between food and wellness

#30

Post by ta999999171 »

heyoni wrote: post #24
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #11

I don't know how this would make sense from an evolutionary perspective - once you kill and eat something you want to rest and recover, not assimilate the stress and give yourself anxiety so that you don't recover after the meal.

Evolution is really only concerned with procreation and not much else beyond that. It definitely doesn't care if you feel stressed or suffer some inflammation after a meal.

Fun fact for the reader at home - ANY meal produces an inflammatory response! A large part of the "eat smaller meals" belief, for many.
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