Race, genetics & non scientific thoughts on the body
Curious about what our Indian-White baby will look like, an internet search led me to a Sepia discussion about race and genetic characteristics.
Although the post is about what constitutes "normal" birth weight for desis, the discussion led me to thoughts about how race-genetics can inform us about our health.
It is my belief, based in NO scientific analysis, that Caucasians are genetically meant for colder climates, requiring climatically appropriate fat and food storage. Thus their bodies handle fatty and meaty diets differently than Brown people. I also think that Brown mixing has been more common over the centuries than has Caucasian mixing - ie Coastal Browns have mixed more seamlessly with non-coastal Browns than warm climate Caucasians have mixed with cold-climate ones, for example. Indeed, the warm climate Caucasians tend to have darker hair and skin that is easier to tan.
Thus I think that Brown people's bodies have less of an ability to deal with fat and meat appropriately than do White people's bodies. By appropriate, I don't mean shape, but the ability to process it correctly, eliminate toxic substances or store the right components. So I believe that if a White person and a Brown person grew up together, eating the exact same diet of say, KFC, the Brown person is more likely to develop fatal diseases than the White person. Both may be fat and / or unhealthy - but the Brown person's genetics may preclude him / her to be fatter and / or unhealthier.
On Sepia someone pointed out that Brown is not well defined and the Punjabi genetic code will doubtless be different from the Malayali genetic code. Fair enough. However, there are still several culturally time-tested cures, cuisines and courses of action that may work for South-East Asians that could have the opposite effect on Caucasians.
The point of this random thread of un-scientific thought is that I can have some idea of what my body can and can't take healthfully because of what I look like and where I know I come from - genetically. And I can therefore exercise an un-scientific common sense about what I consume or how I adapt to my North-American context. But what will it mean for my child - a product of two distinctly different races. The long natural selection process built-into race will be lost. The south-Indian diet, for example, that has a time tested credibility stamp for my genetic make-up (albeit with modifications for the modern lifestyle) may not apply. My White husband, for example, does not at all respond to my magic-miracle remedy of Pudin-Hara. Indeed the herbal pastes that my grandma used to reduce the acid-scars on my arm may have either not worked or worsened the scars on a Caucasian or Chinese person. For our child, my grandma's method may prove as ineffective, or even as harmful as my husband's grandma's recipes.
Our race-interlace forces us to doubt or lose multi-generational information.
Although the post is about what constitutes "normal" birth weight for desis, the discussion led me to thoughts about how race-genetics can inform us about our health.
It is my belief, based in NO scientific analysis, that Caucasians are genetically meant for colder climates, requiring climatically appropriate fat and food storage. Thus their bodies handle fatty and meaty diets differently than Brown people. I also think that Brown mixing has been more common over the centuries than has Caucasian mixing - ie Coastal Browns have mixed more seamlessly with non-coastal Browns than warm climate Caucasians have mixed with cold-climate ones, for example. Indeed, the warm climate Caucasians tend to have darker hair and skin that is easier to tan.
Thus I think that Brown people's bodies have less of an ability to deal with fat and meat appropriately than do White people's bodies. By appropriate, I don't mean shape, but the ability to process it correctly, eliminate toxic substances or store the right components. So I believe that if a White person and a Brown person grew up together, eating the exact same diet of say, KFC, the Brown person is more likely to develop fatal diseases than the White person. Both may be fat and / or unhealthy - but the Brown person's genetics may preclude him / her to be fatter and / or unhealthier.
On Sepia someone pointed out that Brown is not well defined and the Punjabi genetic code will doubtless be different from the Malayali genetic code. Fair enough. However, there are still several culturally time-tested cures, cuisines and courses of action that may work for South-East Asians that could have the opposite effect on Caucasians.
The point of this random thread of un-scientific thought is that I can have some idea of what my body can and can't take healthfully because of what I look like and where I know I come from - genetically. And I can therefore exercise an un-scientific common sense about what I consume or how I adapt to my North-American context. But what will it mean for my child - a product of two distinctly different races. The long natural selection process built-into race will be lost. The south-Indian diet, for example, that has a time tested credibility stamp for my genetic make-up (albeit with modifications for the modern lifestyle) may not apply. My White husband, for example, does not at all respond to my magic-miracle remedy of Pudin-Hara. Indeed the herbal pastes that my grandma used to reduce the acid-scars on my arm may have either not worked or worsened the scars on a Caucasian or Chinese person. For our child, my grandma's method may prove as ineffective, or even as harmful as my husband's grandma's recipes.
Our race-interlace forces us to doubt or lose multi-generational information.