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Why some medical conditions are due to evolutionary design flaws

Rather than assuming medical conditions happen because something in the body has 鈥済one wrong鈥, considering evolutionary explanations for illnesses and symptoms may help us better understand how to treat them

By Clare Wilson

28 November 2023

Some conditions occur due to a trade-off from genes that improve our reproductive success

KATERYNA KON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/ Alamy

This is an extract from Health Check, our newsletter about the most essential health and fitness news. Sign up to receive it in your inbox for free every week.

This week, I have been writing about a new way of looking at the devastating brain condition Huntington鈥檚 disease. The genetic mutation responsible may also lead to higher IQ in childhood and early adulthood 鈥 and so could have been selected for in our evolutionary past.

While this idea isn鈥檛 proven, it…

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