Disease and intelligence: Mens sana in corpore sano

Disease and intelligence: Mens sana in corpore sano | The Economist

Health • August 2010 • Views: 1,593

HUMAN intelligence is puzzling. It is higher, on average, in some places than in others. And it seems to have been rising in recent decades. Why these two things should be true is controversial. This week, though, a group of researchers at the University of New Mexico propose the same explanation for both: the effect of infectious disease. If they are right, it suggests that the control of such diseases is crucial to a country’s development in a way that had not been appreciated before. Places that harbour a lot of parasites and pathogens not only suffer the debilitating effects of disease on their workforces, but also have their human capital eroded, child by child, from birth.

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4 comments

ShaunP Fri, Aug 13, 2010 9:42:04am

Great article. I'm still having a hard time separating whether disease is the primary culprit or if it's just a secondary cause, as there is an established connection between malnutrition at an early age and intelligence.

[Link: www.sciencedaily.com...]

[Link: www-bcf.usc.edu...]

Aceofwhat? Fri, Aug 13, 2010 11:51:48am

re: #1 ShaunP

Great article. I'm still having a hard time separating whether disease is the primary culprit or if it's just a secondary cause, as there is an established connection between malnutrition at an early age and intelligence.

[Link: www.sciencedaily.com...]

[Link: www-bcf.usc.edu...]

Thanks. I thought the authors of this article did well to mention causation and to attempt to measure the persistence of the disease effect while changing other variables. Still, it's by no means proven...but very interesting...

lostlakehiker Sat, Aug 14, 2010 7:43:23pm

re: #1 ShaunP

Great article. I'm still having a hard time separating whether disease is the primary culprit or if it's just a secondary cause, as there is an established connection between malnutrition at an early age and intelligence.

[Link: www.sciencedaily.com...]

[Link: www-bcf.usc.edu...]

This will be very difficult to disentangle. Malnutrition opens the body to infections it would otherwise repel without incident.

One thing they've surely thought about is what happens when, say, a random sample of South Koreans, orphans of the Korean war, are transported to the U.S. There have been all too many wars and refugee movements, more than enough to allow a systematic look at displaced populations that have been removed from low-disease, middle-disease, or high disease settings to Europe and America where disease is not much of a problem and food is abundant.

Confounding factors? Those who escaped may have been smarter than those who didn't. Threading your way out of a war zone requires improvisation and quick thinking, a good sense of direction, and maybe some preparation. It may require fast talk and convincing lying.

Obdicut Sun, Aug 15, 2010 8:36:40am

Really neat article.

Folds in well with Sapolsky's work, as well. He works in neuro-endocrine stuff, about how stress-- especially being 'low-status' as a primate, lowers your immune response, leaving you vulnerable.

It's a cruel bit of evolution, there.

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