Dujon Antoine M, Tasiemski Aurélie, Pujol Pascal, Turpin Anthony, Ujvari Beata, Thomas Frédéric
Centre for Integrative Ecology, Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, VIC 3216, Australia.
CANECEV-Centre de Recherches Ecologiques et Evolutives sur le Cancer (CREEC), Montpellier 34090, France.
Evol Med Public Health. 2022 Nov 24;11(1):45-52. doi: 10.1093/emph/eoac040. eCollection 2023.
Why humans historically began to incorporate spices into their diets is still a matter of unresolved debate. For example, a recent study (Bromham et al. There is little evidence that spicy food in hot countries is an adaptation to reducing infection risk. 2021;5:878-91.) did not support the most popular hypothesis that spice consumption was a practice favoured by selection in certain environments to reduce food poisoning, parasitic infections, and foodborne diseases.
Because several spices are known to have anticancer effects, we explored the hypothesis that natural selection and/or cultural evolution may have favoured spice consumption as an adaptive prophylactic response to reduce the burden of cancer pathology. We used linear models to investigate the potential relationship between age-standardized gastrointestinal cancer rates and spice consumption in 36 countries.
Patterns of spice are not consistent with a cancer mitigation mechanism: the age-standardized rate of almost all gastrointestinal cancers was not related to spice consumption.
Direction other than foodborne pathogens and cancers should be explored to understand the health reasons, if any, why our ancestors developed a taste for spices.
人类历史上为何开始将香料纳入饮食仍然是一个尚未解决的争论话题。例如，最近一项研究（布罗姆汉姆等人，2021年；5:878 - 91）并未支持最流行的假说，即食用辛辣食物是在某些环境中通过选择而形成的一种做法，以降低食物中毒、寄生虫感染和食源性疾病的风险。
由于已知几种香料具有抗癌作用，我们探讨了一种假说，即自然选择和/或文化进化可能有利于食用香料，作为一种适应性预防反应，以减轻癌症病理负担。我们使用线性模型研究了36个国家年龄标准化胃肠道癌症发病率与香料消费之间的潜在关系。
香料模式与癌症缓解机制不一致：几乎所有胃肠道癌症的年龄标准化发病率与香料消费无关。
应该探索除食源性病原体和癌症之外的方向，以了解如果存在的话，我们的祖先对香料产生喜好的健康原因。
