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Cited by 39Birth, Development, and HealthNutrition, Genetics, and DiseaseObesity, Physical Activity, Diet

Beyond Feast–Famine: Brain Evolution, Human Life History, and the Metabolic Syndrome

Kuzawa, Christopher W.·2010·Human Evolutionary Biology
DOI 10.1017/cbo9780511781193.037
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Abstract

EXPLAINING THE MODERN METABOLIC DISEASE EPIDEMIC: THE THRIFTY GENOTYPE HYPOTHESIS AND ITS LIMITATIONS Today, more than 1 billion people are overweight or obese, and the related condition of cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for more deaths than any other cause (Mackay et al.,2004). Why this epidemic of metabolic disease has emerged so rapidly in recent history is a classic problem for anthropologists concerned with the role of culture change in disease transition (Ulijaszek and Lofink, 2006). In 1962, the geneticist James Neel proposed an explanation for this phenomenon that looked for clues in the “feast–famine” conditions that he believed our nomadic, foraging ancestors faced in the past. Given the unpredictability of food resources in natural ecologies, Neel suggested that a “thrifty” metabolism capable of efficiently storing excess dietary energy as body fat when food was abundant would have provided a survival advantage during later periods of shortage. In the wake of the rapid dietary and lifestyle change in recent generations, and the comparatively slow pace of genetic change, these foraging-adapted genes would now be “rendered detrimental by progress” (Neel, 1962), leading to obesity and diabetes.

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  • Peripheral insulin resistance is effective at shunting scarce glucose to high-demand tissues or organs, such as to the fetus during the mild diabetes of pregnancy or to the brain during stress-induced insulin resistance.

    “Although an important precursor to type 2 diabetes, peripheral insulin resistance is also effective at shunting scarce glucose to high-demand tissues or organs, such as to the fetus during the mild diabetes of pregnancy (58), or to the brain during the insulin-resistance triggered by stress (59).”

    From Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development (2014) · cites this paper as [59]

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Authors
Kuzawa, C. W.
Corresponding author
Kuzawa, Christopher W.
ORCID
Kuzawa, Christopher W.
Venue
Human Evolutionary Biology
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Published
2010-07-29
Pages
518-527
DOI
10.1017/cbo9780511781193.037
OpenAlex
W2284010517
Cited by
39
References
80
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
FWCI
16.18
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 738 d)
Locations
Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
Keywords
thrifty genotype hypothesis, metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes mellitus, brain evolution, human life history, energy storage, cardiovascular disease

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