“The further you stray from the
natural, the more diligent you need to be about understanding the consequences.”
That’s a useful personal maxim I arrived at over the years.
The reason: Nature has had eons
to work through the mechanics of interaction. Nature uses its own slow
mechanisms to weed out the dangerous, balanced against a universe of… well…
everything. It’s not perfect. But it has a major leg up on humanity in this
regard.
I’ve found it holds true in most
matters of business modeling. I assert it holds doubly true in matters that are
themselves more primal and central, such as nutrition.
Early studies such as this one
and this one are starting to correlate both American obesity-inducing diets and
obesity-while-pregnant with the mysterious rise in autism. Of course, correlation is not
causation. What other related factors such as artificial food additives,
hormonal response to excess, or anything else may be involved? We do not yet
know.
But how hard is it to acknowledge
a risk and remember another age-old maxim: “All things in moderation”? In our
age of instant gratification and food-substitutes, we forget long-held wisdom
is there precisely because it has proven itself out across time and change.
When you haven’t done the diligence to prove it wrong, you might want to try
stowing your ego and acknowledging it just may have merit.
I’ve long chided with friends
that 40 years from now, society will look back at our early-century selves as
many of us now look back at heavy smoking. They’ll smirk and say, “well of
COURSE that was going to mess you up.” In the interest of finding a way to
avoid autism and the challenges it brings… I whole-heartily look forward to
that day.
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