Beyond the thrifty gene: Metabolic implications of prehistoric migration into the new world

Abstract

Several models have been proposed to explain the high prevalence of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and other diseases among New World populations. This paper examines the implications of a northern hunting adaptation (reliance on animal foods, seasonal shortages) in terms of energy digestion, absorption, metabolism and storage. Physiologic adaptations to a high protein, moderate fat, low carbohydrate diet are then examined in the context of agriculturally-based subsistence systems and in industrialized societies. Specific metabolic pathways, consistent with the work of both Neel and Weiss, are identified as fruitful areas for further research regarding genetic variants in New World populations.

Lack of age‐related increase in average glycemia in a non‐Westernized sample of rural Yucatec Maya females

“…Further, the results support the notion that diabetes mellitus and physiological aging decrement in glucose handling are distinct entities (Chen et al, 1988;Jackson, 1990). Lifestyle factors such as sedentariness and refined carbohydrates are implicated in the expression of genetic predisposition to disordered glucose metabolism (Bindon and Baker, 1997;Ritenbaugh and Goodby, 1989;Weiss et al, 1989). The current research suggests similar key roles for Western influences in the occurrence of age-related decline in glucose processing.…”

“…Examination of menopausal timing and symptoms among Yucatec Maya women aged 18 -80 years suggests that menopause occurs without hot flashes and almost 10 years earlier than in industrial areas (Beyene and Martin, 2001). As Amerindians, the Yucatec Maya may share a genetic vulnerability to disordered glucose metabolism (Bindon and Baker, 1997;Ritenbaugh and Goodby, 1989;Szathmá ry and Ferrell, 1990;Weiss et al, 1989). Although Amerindians exhibit a predisposition to type 2 diabetes, their susceptibility to age-related impairment in glucose handling has not been adequately investigated (Szathmá ry and Ferrell, 1990).…”

Obesity in Minority Populations: An Epidemiologic Assessment

“…In contrast to a clinical approach in which the excess of obesity would be explained on the basis of factors promoting a positive energy balance at the individual level, from an epidemiological perspective, forces promoting positive energy balance at the population level are of primary interest. A plausible, almost obvious, scenario to explain the excess of obesity in minority populations unfolds when the issues are viewed in this light, drawing upon insights from those who have studied patterns of obesity in diverse cultural and evolutionary contexts (19,51,88,89,100,110). This explanation can also be applied to the marked socioeconomic status variations in obesity in white populations, providing a perspective on why many populations with no apparent link to the "Thrifty Genotype" also have high rates of obesity.…”

Exploring the thrifty genotype's food-shortage assumptions: A cross-cultural comparison of ethnographic accounts of food security among foraging and agricultural societies

“…Broadly speaking, the hypothesis continues to provide the theoretical evolutionary basis for biomedical and anthropological research into suspected populationspecific genetic predispositions to a variety of metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes (Diamond, 2003). While some scholars interested in the evolutionary basis of type 2 diabetes among the world's highest-risk groups have sought to shift the emphasis away from the role of prehistoric food shortages to that of the composition of ancestral diets (Ritenbaugh and Goodby, 1989;Szathmary, 1990;Brand Miller and Colagiuri, 1994), the assumed greater food insecurity of foragers compared to agriculturalists remains central to the thrifty genotype hypothesis today. Indeed, the presumption that foragers are more likely to suffer disproportionately from feastfamine cycles than agriculturalists is ubiquitous in current discussions of the apparent genetic predisposition of the world's highest-prevalence populations to type 2 diabetes (Zimmet and O'Dea, 1993;Allen and Cheer, 1996;Reaven, 1998;Wendorf, 1999;Vardi and Pinhas-Hamiel, 2000;Stannard and Johnson, 2003;Zimmet and Thomas, 2003;Chakravarthy and Booth, 2004;Gluckman and Hanson, 2004).…”