98.6 Degrees Fahrenheit Isn’t The Average Anymore

[Mito]

“Nearly 150 years ago, a German physician analyzed a million temperatures from 25,000 patients and concluded that normal human-body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. That standard has been published in numerous medical texts and helped generations of parents judge the gravity of a child’s illness. But at least two dozen modern studies have concluded the number is too high. The findings have prompted speculation that the pioneering analysis published in 1869 by Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich was flawed. Or was it? In a new study, researchers from Stanford University argue that Wunderlich’s number was correct at the time but is no longer accurate because the human body has changed.”

98.6 Degrees Fahrenheit Isn’t the Average Anymore

 

[somuch4food]

Yeah, there was another thread about it. What I don't understand is that babies still hold this temperature at birth... Why would they if human temperature was going down?

 

[boris]

I can‘t access the whole text. Did the researchers from Stanford who say „the human body has changed“ provide any evidence that 98 is the new optimum for bodily functions?

 

[Mito]

“Today, they say, the average normal human-body temperature is closer to 97.5 degrees Fahrenheit. That would be a huge drop for a population,” said Philip Mackowiak, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and editor of the book “Fever: Basic Mechanisms and Management.” Body temperature is a crude proxy for metabolic rate, and if it has fallen, it could offer a clue about other physiological changes that have occurred over time. “People are taller, fatter and live longer, and we don’t really understand why all those things have happened,” said Julie Parsonnet, who specializes in infectious diseases at Stanford and is senior author of the paper. “Temperature is linked to all those things. The question is which is driving the others.

To test their hypothesis that today’s normal body temperature is lower than in the past, Dr. Parsonnet and her research partners analyzed 677,423 temperatures collected from 189,338 individuals over a span of 157 years.

The readings were recorded in the pension records of Civil War veterans from the start of the war through 1940; in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1971 through 1974; and in the Stanford Translational Research Integrated Database Environment from 2007 through 2017.

Overall, temperatures of the Civil War veterans were higher than measurements taken in the 1970s, and, in turn, those measurements were higher than those collected in the 2000s.”

 

[bornamachine]

Has anyone done studies on parts of the world that do not fluoridate their water and consume little to no vegatable oils to see if their temperatures have changed over time?

 

[seely]

We also switched from analog temps to digital temps.


HEAVY reliance on air conditioning and heat- going outside a temp range of 72-78degrees is considered a first word problem.

Not to mention reduction in meat (and quality meat). Higher anxiety. Higher serotonin. Heavy use of antibiotics.

Could be ANYTHING.

This study is mportant to know... my temp is always about 97 but I have no idea on my kids as we don’t do thermometers

 

[InChristAlone]

I do think 98.6 is still the optimal temperature. Less and the enzymes of the body are not going to function well.

 

[bornamachine]

In Russia everyone considers 36.6c to be normal day temp, that's what I always had as a healthy child, teen, young adult till I got thyroid damage and they dropped.

Now I was always around 36.6 again but lately noticed stretches of days where I am 37.0 all day long with a higher heart rate.

I don't buy any of this "people have changed BS" that's just lazy explanation like using the word "anomoly"instead of saying "my theory is wrong or I just don't understand what I'm talking about"

I tried to find out exactly how that German guy narrowed down 37c as average healthy temperature from 25000 subjects.

 

[bornamachine]

I also use a mercury thermometer because the digital ones give up to 1.5F lower reading then the accurate mercury one

 

[bornamachine]

We also switched from analog temps to digital temps.


HEAVY reliance on air conditioning and heat- going outside a temp range of 72-78degrees is considered a first word problem.

Not to mention reduction in meat (and quality meat). Higher anxiety. Higher serotonin. Heavy use of antibiotics.

Could be ANYTHING.

This study is mportant to know... my temp is always about 97 but I have no idea on my kids as we don’t do thermometers

What would heating your home even 74f have to do with a 98.6f temp, at rest even in that warm environment you are maintain your core at a whopping 98.6f

Same would apply to AC, how would that EVER effect people's physiology to permanently drop temps, under what mechanism, for what purpose?

How do you know your temp is around 97 and you don't use thermometers on your kids, what does that even mean? Have you ever take an actual temp under the armpit via a mercury thermometer? And when your kids run a fever you don't check their temps?

-------


Knowing what I know, the answer seems simple, high temp = higher amount of calories burned means proper thyroid function, given that countries started to fluoridate their water, x-rays became prevelant and the consumption of liquid oils has magnified by a thousandfold over compared to the mid 1800s, peoples thyroids have become sluggish and do not work up to par, there may be other variables as well.

But, to say, that human physiology has changed is just NON SENSICAL. Do they say the same thing about crazy testosterone reduction in men as well? Every generation or 20 years it reduced by 50-100% or some crazy figure I've seen, 60s, 80s, 2000s, "testosterone levels are dropping!!" Conclusion. "Male physiology has changed in the last 60 years"

Give me a break

 

[tankasnowgod]

I don't buy any of this "people have changed BS" that's just lazy explanation like using the word "anomoly"instead of saying "my theory is wrong or I just don't understand what I'm talking about"

But people have changed. Or, at least their diet and habits have. Like PUFA intake, for example-

And it would make sense that chronically consuming more of an anti-metabolic substance like PUFA could chronically lower body temperature.

This is like, Ray Peat 101 stuff.

 

[bornamachine]

But people have changed. Or, at least their diet and habits have. Like PUFA intake, for example-

View attachment 32186

And it would make sense that chronically consuming more of an anti-metabolic substance like PUFA could chronically lower body temperature.

This is like, Ray Peat 101 stuff.

Exactly, and the articles will tip toe around the truth and not explain the fundementals of what keeps the temp in place. I don't quite understand it myself why in Russia 36.6 is the norm, I know back in the day they used to iodize the drinking water instead of fluoridate it, but also the ecology was very bad where we lived with aluminum plants dumping right into the city without any filters etc

 

[Gustav3Y]

On a side note.
Some digital thermometers show temperatures all over the place and I see people making an arithmetic mean to get the "correct" one or arbitrary choose which is the correct temperature. I know many swear by their digital one, especially if the price is high the inherent cost-quality prejudice inserts itself into the equation.
With mercury ones I have tested with a stopwatch repeatedly I have noticed just a 0.1C to 0.15C difference from instrument to instrument on repetition, I would call that very accurate. But we know these can get bad too, like for example gets to be stuck at not going past a certain specific point or the mercury divides into several parts in the vial, so these can have their operational issues too and you may need more than one in case one goes defect.

 

[InChristAlone]

The digital ones are pretty accurate if you leave it in long enough. It's not accurate when it beeps.

 

[Gustav3Y]

Unless you have a direct comparison with a reference that just enters the "arbitrary" category of choosing what you feel like it is the correct number.

 

[Kayaker]

The digital ones are pretty accurate if you leave it in long enough. It's not accurate when it beeps.

Cheap gallium thermometers give a stable temperature after only 3 minutes if held in the back of the mouth pressed against the oral tissue. However, they have to be swung around in a sock to be reset.

 

[BrianF]

The entire western world is hypo thyroid. PUFA, flouride in the water and estrogenic foods and chemicals have altered nearly every single person. Babies are born with the optimum temperature because they are too a large degree protected in the womb.

 

[seely]

What would heating your home even 74f have to do with a 98.6f temp, at rest even in that warm environment you are maintain your core at a whopping 98.6f

Same would apply to AC, how would that EVER effect people's physiology to permanently drop temps, under what mechanism, for what purpose?

How do you know your temp is around 97 and you don't use thermometers on your kids, what does that even mean? Have you ever take an actual temp under the armpit via a mercury thermometer? And when your kids run a fever you don't check their temps?

-------


Knowing what I know, the answer seems simple, high temp = higher amount of calories burned means proper thyroid function, given that countries started to fluoridate their water, x-rays became prevelant and the consumption of liquid oils has magnified by a thousandfold over compared to the mid 1800s, peoples thyroids have become sluggish and do not work up to par, there may be other variables as well.

But, to say, that human physiology has changed is just NON SENSICAL. Do they say the same thing about crazy testosterone reduction in men as well? Every generation or 20 years it reduced by 50-100% or some crazy figure I've seen, 60s, 80s, 2000s, "testosterone levels are dropping!!" Conclusion. "Male physiology has changed in the last 60 years"

Give me a break

No I don’t check my kids temps. Your intuition about what is “hot” plus skin to skin (and breastfeeding babies toddlers and young children) is all that is required for a fever. *maybe* some warm broth, or a bath.

Supposed pharma “fever reducers” do more harm than good

 

[Herbie]

I also use a mercury thermometer because the digital ones give up to 1.5F lower reading then the accurate mercury one

where do you get the mercury thermometer? They are illegal in the west.

 

[bornamachine]

where do you get the mercury thermometer? They are illegal in the west.

European grocery stores have pharmacies usually, they carry them sometimes. Look for Russian stores thats where Ive bought em before.

Ive also bought the mercury substitute one in WalMart, made in Germany I believe, that one is also accurate just like mercury but takes longer to get to the target