Domestic cats are at risk, but that is more a result of domestication and improper feeding (carbohydrate) than evolution or genetics. Unless I am missing something, of course! Care to elaborate?
I feel that repeated inbreeding can (but does not have to) cause issues like sensitive kidneys in cats, but it probably also has to do with domestic cats growing relatively old. Things like faulty kidneys (or thyroid issues, or diabetes) bound to show up eventually if cancer does not get them before age 10.
Do you ever feel that way?
What I meant by "modern diseases" in my comment is a group of non-communicable diseases or so-called "diseases of civilization".
"Diet-related" is rather ambiguous, so different lines might be drawn there. As an example, would you say Alzheimer's is a diet-related disease? What about melanoma and/or sunburn?
Bad example, to be honest. In fact, liver cancer can be directly attributed to drinking.
A life expectancy of 70 years under such conditions is actually astonishing.
[0]: https://www.who.int/tobacco/media/en/Mongolia.pdf
[1]: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112485...
I don't usually express my opinions on nutrition, metabolism and/or health in general in the open, because I know they go against what is currently mainstream and they would be met (as elsewhere in this submission) with extreme resistance. I can't blame the others, though, as I once was in their same position and know how it feels when deeply ingrained ideas are challenged from the outside.
I have learned to live without the need to be "right", or to educate others when they don't want to be. It is enough for me to apply what knowledge and intuition I have gained over the last years for my own health and well-being. If, at some point, someone wants me to share that knowledge, then I will gladly do it.
I also try not to say a word about my beliefs. That was much easier before having children who are offered carbohydrates constantly.
Even though I have no children, I can try to imagine what it feels like.
My paternal grandfather died of complications from uncontrolled, insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes. He spent his last years half-blind, unable to move, filled with ulcers and missing several toes.
My father has been hovering around the prediabetic range for many years now, and I live a 5-hour drive away from him. Effectively, he is like a child, with no knowledge of nutrition or metabolism, trying to find his way in a world dominated by a food industry that doesn't have public health anywhere in its objectives.
But it's not just the food industry, although they might have the monopoly of malice in this context. Guess what the diet prescribed by his primary care provider looked like once he was deemed prediabetic. Motherfucking biscuits for breakfast, pasta or rice with lean meat, sugar-laden fruit juice... but counting calories! Exactly the opposite of what I have finally convinced him to eat by chipping away on every holiday visit. He's not exactly following a ketogenic diet, but at least he is starting to figure out what sugar, starch and seed oils do to people, and how the blame was shifted onto the wrong substances (saturated fat and salt, basically). He is even giving intermittent fasting a go!
It's hard when you know that the potential suffering of a loved one is perfectly avoidable with just the right pieces of information.
As you might have guessed, having type 2 diabetes in my immediate ancestry (also in my maternal family) was one of the reasons that led me down the rabbit hole. I now treat nutrition and its effect on health and metabolism sort of like a hobby. I guess there is a component of biohacking in there as well.
Which points to an elephant in the room that people miss when use the term carbs. It is the similarity between whole-food plant-based and various forms of keto. They both avoids simple sugars and processed flour mixed with refined seed oils or saturated fats.
A single potato with skin has 6 grams of fiber and around 60 grams of starch.
As for the vitamins and minerals, the only thing found in a relevant amount in potatoes is potassium. Contrast this with eggs, organ meat or even muscle meat.
What would you say is the problem with saturated fat?
Also, out of curiosity, are you vegan?
As for saturated fat I have no idea what if any can be wrong with it from human health point of view. Literature and observational studies are contradictory and it all depends on the whole diet. But I do know from personal experience and from some hints from literature that mixing it or vegetable oil for that matter with highly processed starches or sugars is bad.
Also, can you please address the other points in my previous comment?
Feel free to reply to any of my other comments in the thread if we have reached maximum depth.
As for other points, most fruits are not particularly dense in calories and one needs to eat kilograms of them to consume 100 grams of fructose, which one can get from one bottle of sugary drink. Dates and dry fruits are exceptions, so to minimize fructose exposure one should not eat them in substantial quantities.
As for deficiency, consuming reasonable variety of starchy vegetables and grains with some greens without added oil provides all minerals and vitamins one can get from meat except for B12 as long as one gets enough calories. There are some individuals where a particular component is not absorbed efficiently if it comes from plants, but that is trivial to compensate with supplements. For example, I personally get low on iron (a family run condition) and has to supplement that either directly or indirectly by taking vitamin C with iron-rich vegetables or grains.