August 31, 2024

In biology, differentiation is the degree of complexity, or creation of complexity, as differences. Forming a spore is a differentiation process.

Biology keeps getting more and more complex to a point where all biology will end in 2-10 million years due to extreme differentiation. That's because all elements of complex organisms are inter-dependent. So changing something as an adaptation runs interference with other things dependent upon it. Evolution balances the net effect; but it's getting so complex that adaptations will be impossible without disrupting too many previously established relationships.

Humans evolved at the end of extreme differentiation. For that reason, there are endless contradictions that don't get entirely resolved in human biology. It's impossible to idealize human nutrition due to the contradictions. Trying to balance vitamins and minerals shows the problem.

Every vitamin and mineral supplement is toxic until it gets to the right location. That means excesses should be avoided. People have killed themselves taking large amounts of B vitamins. As a general rule, taking about two or three times the recommended daily allowance is about the right amount, because some will not get to the right locations due to reactions or removal through excretion. But That rule is not strict.

Never should the recommended amount of copper be exceeded at two milligrams for normal persons, because copper is an extremely toxic oxidizing agent. It is used to sterilize fence posts in the ground. Copper will react with food creating an upset stomach. Most vitamin companies will not sell copper for that reason. When taking copper, omit a day quite often to prevent excess from accumulating and allow damage to liver and kidneys to be repaired.

Copper should not be taken on an empty stomach, because it might be absorbed too fast and damage the liver or kidneys.

The metallic minerals should be acquired in food, where they are protected by attachment to other molecules. But if copper is needed, the method would be to wait a few hours after eating to take it or add some white rice with an empty stomach, because white rice is almost totally carbohydrate as starch and oxidizing starch does not produce toxic results. Starch gets normally oxidized into almost every possible form, usually as organic acids.

In taking zinc, never take vitamin C between about two hours before and three or four hours after, because vitamin C reduces zinc to metallic form which is toxic and not useable.

As an elderly person, I find that I need a lot more vitamin D than the recommended amount, three times per day, to prevent back pain from occurring. There could be any number of reasons why an elderly person might need a lot of vitamin D.

Since animal catabolism creates acidity and is designed for acidity, taking a trace of citric acid improves the alkalinity created by proteins and genetic material. A half gram of citric acid once in awhile should be beneficial. Citric acid is a product of carbohydrate metabolism and is added to some acidic foods. Diluting in water works best.

Humans evolved when the great apes migrated to the southwestern Africa shore and encountered a lot of zinc in sea creatures. Zinc strengthens immune systems by breaking down foreign matter with white blood cells. But adapting physiology to the zinc was encumbered by extreme differentiation of animals. So zinc metabolism hijacked copper metabolism; and taking zinc can result in a copper shortage. The reasons why are not entirely known; but one reason seems to be that the same carrier proteins are needed for several metals and zinc uses them up before copper. If a lot of organic copper is consumed with red meat, it may be adequate even if taking zinc.

The increasing differentiation with evolution is quite visible in filamentous fungi. They evolved their complexities 200-300 million years ago. Their structures evolved in a whimsical manner creating complex micro-structures such as the clamp connection. When crosswalls evolved, migration across them was needed, so clamp connections were used. That means a tube went around the crosswall. Various things then happened in the clamp connection including spore formation. Remnants of the clamp connections still exist, as evolution prevents unused structures and functions from mutating away, unless a selective pressure requires it.

A window exists for each element of evolution; and the window closes as evolution gets more complex. So the micro structures of fungi can no longer evolve. Over time, competition increases requiring adaptations; and the new adaptations do not allow going back to more primitive adaptations.

Another example is two small bumps under the bone for front teeth of humans. Those bumps can be felt with the tongue. They are remnants of hooks used by fish to catch prey. They evolved down to tiny bumps; and evolution will not totally remove them, because there is no selective pressure when that trivial, and evolution preserves all previous structures and functions, until a selective pressure acts upon them.

The same is true for physiology. If humans eat a raw food diet similar to that of monkeys, a pattern of physiology is used which causes fat to be burned away while being highly energized. Monkeys needed that type of physiology for climbing trees. That pattern is forever stored to be activated under the same conditions that evolved it.

There are thousands of control signals in physiology; and evolution balances them to promote a result that is advantageous. But the balancing gets more and more problematic as differentiation increases. When the contradictions cannot be adequately removed, all biology will disintegrate. The reason why so many species are being lost at this time is that they are quite fragile due to extreme differentiation; so a little interference tends to be quite detrimental. It's not just humans that are the cause but also extreme differentiation.