Evolutionary and anthropological perspectives on optimal foraging in obesogenic environments

Lieberman, Leslie Sue

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2006.02.011

Cited by 89 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…As a framework for structuring questions around the drivers of diet choices in foraging societies, some anthropologists have adopted optimal foraging models from behavioral ecology; www.annualreviews.org • Nutritional Ecology and Human Health 23.7 Changes may still occur before final publication online and in print these models (as discussed above) often simplify nutrition into a single primary dietary component, usually "energy" (reviewed in 7, 47). A similar approach has been applied to humans in industrialized food environments (53). In a series of papers, Hockett and collaborators (36)(37)(38) have argued for a deeper integration of the facts of human nutrition science into anthropological models of human foraging choices.…”

Section: Related Applications Of Ecology and Evolution In Nutrition Smentioning

confidence: 97%

“…For example, the family of models termed ecological models of health promotion is amended from ecology to provide a framework that emphasizes the interrelationship between people and their physical and social environments (74). There are also many evolutionary models of human obesity and other nutrition-related problems in modern human environments (e.g., 33,53,93,101). Although not explicitly developed within a nutritional ecology context, these applications of ecological and evolutionary theory to human health are well aligned with the aims and methods of nutritional ecology in the sense described above.…”

Section: Related Applications Of Ecology and Evolution In Nutrition Smentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nutritional Ecology and Human Health

2016

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In contrast to the spectacular advances in the first half of the twentieth century with micronutrient-related diseases, human nutrition science has failed to stem the more recent rise of obesity and associated cardiometabolic disease (OACD). This failure has triggered debate on the problems and limitations of the field and what change is needed to address these. We briefly review the two broad historical phases of human nutrition science and then provide an overview of the main problems that have been implicated in the poor progress of the field with solving OACD. We next introduce the field of nutritional ecology and show how its ecological-evolutionary foundations can enrich human nutrition science by providing the theory to help address its limitations. We end by introducing a modeling approach from nutritional ecology, termed nutritional geometry, and demonstrate how it can help to implement ecological and evolutionary theory in human nutrition to provide new direction and to better understand and manage OACD.

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Section: Related Applications Of Ecology and Evolution In Nutrition Smentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Related Applications Of Ecology and Evolution In Nutrition Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional Ecology and Human Health

2016

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“…These excess fat stores can then be drawn upon during future food shortages (Kardum et al 2008;Korte et al 2005;Zafon and Simo 2011;Saad 2011). Natural selection would also likely favor preferences among different food items, with positive selection for preferences which maximize caloric intake rate-this logic is the foundation of optimal foraging theory (Dusseldorp 2012;Lieberman 2006;Pinel et al 2000;Pyke et al 1977).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to Cues of Harsh or Safe Environmental Conditions Alters Food Preferences

Swaffield

Roberts

2015

Evolutionary Psychological Science

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In humans, psychological stress is positively correlated with an increased desire for certain energy-dense food items, indicating that stress may trigger foraging behavior that adapts to perceived current and future resource availability. However, the extent to which such processes influence desire for different kinds of foods remains unclear. Here, we examine the effects of perceived environmental conditions on food preferences across the food spectrum of dairy, meats, vegetables, fruit, grains, and sweets. We first showed images of 30 different food items to participants and recorded their stated desire to eat each kind of food. We then repeated this procedure after exposing participants to cues of either a harsh or a safe environment. As predicted, we found cues of environmental harshness increased the desirability of energydense food items. However, there was also evidence for decreased desirability for energy-dense food items following exposure to cues of a relatively safe environment. Our findings indicate that simple manipulations of perceived environmental conditions may trigger changes in desire for different kinds of food. Our study has relevance for increasing efforts to understand eating behavior in order to promote uptake of healthier diets.

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“…Mechanized transportation, sedentary jobs, and labor-saving household technologies reduce physical activity too. On the other hand, more than enough energy providing food, mainly consisting of sugar and fat is easily available [91,92]. Consequently, a dramatic mismatch between current environment and human body evolved in the environment of our evolutionary adaptedness can be observed.…”

Section: Climacteric Syndrome From the Viewpoint Of Evolutionary Anthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Menopause Female Reproductive Senescence from the Viewpoint of Evolutionary Anthropology

Kirchengast¹

2017

A Multidisciplinary Look at Menopause

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Female reproductive senescence is characterized by the so-called menopausal transition taking place between the ages of 40 and 60 years. The major event of menopausal transition is menopause itself, which is biomedically deined as the cessation of menstrual function and the irreversible termination of female reproductive capability. Recent human females experience a postreproductive period from about 30 years. Such a long postreproductive period is absolutely uncommon among animals. Consequently, human menopause is still an evolutionary puzzle and several theories to explain the evolutionary basis of menopause have been presented. Menopausal transition, however, is also seen as a period of increased somatic and psychic symptoms which make this phase of life quite uncomfortable for afected women. In the present study, menopause and climacteric complaints are discussed from the viewpoint of evolutionary anthropology.

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Evolutionary and anthropological perspectives on optimal foraging in obesogenic environments

Cited by 89 publications

References 34 publications

Nutritional Ecology and Human Health

Nutritional Ecology and Human Health

Exposure to Cues of Harsh or Safe Environmental Conditions Alters Food Preferences

Menopause Female Reproductive Senescence from the Viewpoint of Evolutionary Anthropology

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