Effect of Diet Quality and Composition on the Isotopic Composition of Respiratory CO2, Bone Collagen, Bioapatite, and Soft Tissues

Biogeochemical methods using stable isotopes and trace elements have been increasingly developed and applied to reconstruct modern and ancient breastfeeding and weaning practices of mammals, including humans, because they offer direct proxies for the dietary intake of subadults. Carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes have been used to evaluate breast milk lipid, protein, and water intake, respectively. Carbon and sulfur isotopes have been used to estimate the content of weaning foods. The elemental concentrations of Sr and Ba in subadult tissues differ because of the dietary change during the weaning process. For analyses, various tissues have been used, such as hair, nail, blood, and feces for modern mammals and bone and teeth for ancient ones. Of these, trace element analysis of tooth enamel offers a good opportunity for the reconstruction of breastfeeding and weaning practices of the more distant past at finer resolution, although further understanding of the metabolism of trace elements is necessary. There are various tissue-and element-specific advantages and disadvantages, and a combination of different proxies can illuminate practices from various viewpoints. Finally, applying the geochemical reconstruction of breastfeeding and weaning practices to human ecology, primatology, and paleoanthropology is important; basic studies of the underlying physiological mechanisms and technical improvements in the analyses will further highlight avenues for future research. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 156:2-21, 2015. V C 2014 American Association of Physical AnthropologistsThe reconstruction of breastfeeding and weaning practices (BWPs) of ancient human and other mammalian species is one of the most important fields in anthropology, archaeology, evolutionary biology, and history. Infant feeding practices affect the overall health of the population because diet, health status, and growth at a young age have profound effects on an individual's later life (Dettwyler and Fishman, 1992;Katzenberg et al., 1996;WHO, 1998WHO, , 2009Lewis, 2007). Breastfeeding and weaning practices can be viewed from the evolutionary perspectives of life history theory, parental investment, child development, social system, and reproductive strat-

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“…13 C values, respectively (Krueger and Sullivan, 1984;Ambrose and Norr, 1993;Tieszen and Fagre, 1993;Kellner and Schoeninger, 2010).…”

Section: Applications Studied Tissuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…C values of subadults during or after the weaning process (Fuller et al, 2006a (Krueger and Sullivan, 1984;Ambrose and Norr, 1993;Tieszen and Fagre, 1993;Kellner and Schoeninger, 2007). This is because the d 13 (Howland et al, 2003;McCullagh et al, 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstruction of breastfeeding and weaning practices using stable isotope and trace element analyses: A review

Tsutaya

Yoneda

2014

American J Phys Anthropol

196

188

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“…Krueger and Sullivan (1984) have shown that dietary protein is the primary influence on the carbon-isotope composition of collagen (δ 13 C col ) and thus does not provide clear insights into the isotopic composition of the remaining macronutrients (i.e., lipids and carbohydrates). In contrast, the carbon-isotope composition of structural carbonate (δ 13 C sc ) reflects that of whole diet (i.e., protein, lipids, and carbohydrates) but cannot identify primary sources of dietary protein (Ambrose and Norr 1993;Tieszen and Fagre 1993). Although the exact degree of 13 C enrichment from diet to human bone collagen is debatable, commonly accepted values range from~1 to 5‰ (DeNiro and Epstein 1978;van der Merwe and Vogel 1978) and predator-to-prey differences in carbon-isotope ratios are~0 to 2‰ (Bocherens and Drucker 2003).…”

Section: Isotopic Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isotopic anthropology of rural German medieval diet: intra- and inter-population variability

Olsen

White

Longstaffe

et al. 2016

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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This study investigates the diet of an eleventh century CE parish community located in northwestern Germany. We assessed the isotopic compositions of human (n = 24) and faunal (n = 17) bone collagen (δ 13 C col , δ 15 N col ) and human structural carbonate (δ 13 C sc ) using skeletal material recovered from the Dalheim cemetery. Traditional interpretation of the isotopic data indicates that Dalheim residents likely relied on a C 3 plant-based diet and consumed some terrestrial animal products without evidence of marine resource input in the diet. Bivariate and multivariate models used as an additional means to assess diet indicate minor consumption of C 4 plant foods in this community. The multivariate-isotope model identified regional similarities and differences in C 4 plant/marine food consumption and in dietary protein sources by comparing data from Dalheim with those of other medieval sites from the published literature. We did not observe sex differences in this population but differences in δ 15 N col suggest that juveniles consumed the lowest trophic level protein.

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“…For reasons of sample availability, we measured in 13 d C tooth enamel (rather than bone collagen), which is enriched in humans (non-ruminant species) by about 9.4‰ relative to the whole diet (Ambrose and Norr 1993;Koch, Fogel, and Tuross 1994;Tieszen and Fagre 1993;Ambrose et al 1997). We thus expect that in tooth-enamel carbonate should 13 d C be about Ϫ15.4‰ (Ϫ24.8‰ ϩ 9.4‰ ) for a pure diet C 3 (rice) and about Ϫ4.6‰ (Ϫ14‰ ϩ 9.4‰ ) for a pure marine diet (Ambrose et al 1997).…”

Section: Carbon Isotopesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shifting Gender Relations at Khok Phanom Di, Thailand

Bentley¹,

Tayles²,

Higham³

et al. 2007

Current Anthropology

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Effect of Diet Quality and Composition on the Isotopic Composition of Respiratory CO2, Bone Collagen, Bioapatite, and Soft Tissues

Cited by 542 publications

References 27 publications

Reconstruction of breastfeeding and weaning practices using stable isotope and trace element analyses: A review

Reconstruction of breastfeeding and weaning practices using stable isotope and trace element analyses: A review

Isotopic anthropology of rural German medieval diet: intra- and inter-population variability

Shifting Gender Relations at Khok Phanom Di, Thailand

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