The main theme of this blog is human biodiversity (HBD) from the point of view of Northern European ancestry. However, we will skip the standard stuff on IQ and we will leave most contemporary politics to the many other HBD bloggers who extensively cover these topics. There are many other HBD topics that should be covered well, but aren’t — the consequence of HBD for the media, arts, religion, diet, courtship, sex, family — in other words for your own life. What it means for your life and my life that our ancestors were from Northern Europe will be the focus of this blog. We will dive heavily into the traditions of our Northern European ancestors and will sometimes delve into related scientific topics such as biology, medicine, sociobiology, and evolutionary biology. Learn, teach, and have fun!
3 Dec
Personal HBD 
Posted by Ron Pavellas on December 11, 2009 at 4:57 am
Although I have learned from my FTDNA results that my ancestry is 100% European (at least since the point at which one can differentiate among all descendants of the original Africans), my ancestry is a mixture of northern and southern Europe. As genetic evidence of non-northern ancestry, I am moderately intolerant to lactose and have, situated on chromosome 11, the trait for Alpha Thalassemia (“Mediterranean Anemia”). Otherwise, I connect genetically with Europeans who have recent known origins everywhere in this continent, with clusters in England, Germany and Eastern Europe. So, I am not “pure” Northern European, or “pure” anything European. I ask, therefore, if this blog, although interesting, will be of any use to me? How many people can say with certainty that they are “pure” Northern European?
As an aside, I am a distant cousin to Henry Harpending whose work you cite in another article.
Best wishes,
Posted by Ron Pavellas on December 11, 2009 at 5:01 am
Addendum: I am Haplotype “K” on my mother’s side and Haplotype “J” on my father’s side. Does Haplotype “R” indicate Northern European ancestry, and does it have to be on both sides?
Posted by haploR on December 11, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Ron,
Thanks for the comments. You are a good illustration that it’s good to get one’s DNA sequenced to have the best information about one’s adaptations. There are many important differences between N. and S. Europe because of very different agricultural histories, so if one is obviously of one or the other ancestry (e.g. Scandinavian or from southern Italy) that gives the next best information. “In between”, people of dual ancestry like yourself or people whose ancestors lived “in between”, e.g. many places between the Danube and the Alps or in central France, have ambiguous ancestry and for these knowing the actual genetic code is particularly important.
Within Europe most haplotype R’s are from N. Europe, but a minority are not. R is the most common haplotype in N. Europe. It may be a symbol, of sorts, of northern European ancestry, but this blog is for folks of N. European ancestry at least several millenia back regardless of haplotype. Haplotypes are not definitive, they are just statistically suggestive, of the rest of the genetic code.
That one of your parents is haplotype J (strongly associated with Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean type agriculture) and that you have some lactose intolerance and alpha thalassemia, suggests that many northern European recipes may not be the best for your health. For example, unless in the future genetics shows otherwise, it may be a good presumption for you to consider high saturated fat foods unhealthy, and stick to a Mediterranean diet.
I live in the U.S. Early in the last century the most popular dietary advice here was biased towards the Northern European diet — .heavy on eggs, butter, cheese, meat, and the like. For the last few decades it has been highly biased towards the Mediterranean diet. But there are zero studies showing that these traditional N. European foods are anything but extremely healthy for those of N. European ancestry (with obvious caveats for micro-migrations as with your ancestors). We need to stop foisting our dieting advice on each other. On this blog I am going to explore the strong distinction between the two historically and the probable associated genetic distinctions resulting in distinct dietary advice. Since the popular diet is closer to the Mediteranean this blog will focus on the N. European diet which is probably less useful for you except by way of intellectual interest.
Posted by haploR on December 11, 2009 at 10:49 pm
BTW, the “R” in my nom de plume refers to the Y chromosome haplotype (paternal), not to the mitochondrial (maternal).
Posted by Ron Pavellas on December 12, 2009 at 6:39 am
Hej “HaploR”: This mostly-Greek/American Swede lives in Stockholm, so I will have to work at it to eat a Med diet. First, I have to convince my Swedish (with German undertones) wife! In any case, I appreciate your thoughtful response and advice. I’ve been chugging non-lactose dairy products which are quite easily available in Stockholm, if pricey. I assume they are available for the many immigrants from Iraq, Syria, Ethiopia/Eritrea, eastern and southern Europe and other parts. I am awaiting results from “23andMe,” to see what other aspects of my DNA can be discerned.
Best wishes,