Sunday, December 04, 2005

 

Turkey Nothing To Sneeze At


An amino acid which the body cannot produce on its own is found in abundance in turkey. One of the breakdown products of tryptophan, one of the 20 amino acids, has been found to surpress the immune response, making it effective against autoimmune disorders, and probably as a treatment for allergies. The study also found that eating a lot of turkey makes you happy and sleepy. The study was completed before Thanksgiving, so it is more groundbreaking than it now seems.

Dr. Steinman offered an evolutionary or intelligent design explanation for the surpressed immunity. When people are starving, the body turns off the immune system to preserve essential functions in the brain and heart. This helps the starving person survive until dinner. This also explains how we evolved (designed) the practice of having Thanksgiving dinner at noon rather than in the evening, preserving immunity from all those relatives.

Asked whether this meant people should eat a lot of turkey, he said "it probably won't help unless you are starving to death." So there are some advantages to delaying the dinner until evening.

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