Multiple sclerosis, anxiety disorders or Alzheimer’s: thousands of years ago, immigrants brought genes to Europe that increase the risk of certain diseases. How genetic traits have become established in evolution that make people sick today.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) continues to puzzle science. In autoimmune disease, the body’s own defense system attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Smoking and being overweight, among other things, are considered risk factors, but the exact cause of the disease is unclear and there is currently no cure. More than 2.5 million people worldwide live with MS, In Germany, more than 230,000 people are probably affected. The risk of becoming ill is unevenly distributed: in Europe, for example, the disease is more common in the north than in the south. But researchers have now found an explanation for at least this abnormality – and this could help to better understand not only MS, but also other conditions such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes and even mental illnesses such as anxiety disorders. It also sheds new light on the evolution of today’s Europeans. And it shows what a long shadow it can cast when people change their way of life, as they once did during the early days of agriculture.