The DOI matches its Crossref record; 78 of the 78 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 12 of the 59 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development
Open accessAbstract
The high energetic costs of human brain development have been hypothesized to explain distinctive human traits, including exceptionally slow and protracted preadult growth. Although widely assumed to constrain life-history evolution, the metabolic requirements of the growing human brain are unknown. We combined previously collected PET and MRI data to calculate the human brain's glucose use from birth to adulthood, which we compare with body growth rate. We evaluate the strength of brain-body metabolic trade-offs using the ratios of brain glucose uptake to the body's resting metabolic rate (RMR) and daily energy requirements (DER) expressed in glucose-gram equivalents (glucosermr% and glucoseder%). We find that glucosermr% and glucoseder% do not peak at birth (52.5% and 59.8% of RMR, or 35.4% and 38.7% of DER, for males and females, respectively), when relative brain size is largest, but rather in childhood (66.3% and 65.0% of RMR and 43.3% and 43.8% of DER). Body-weight growth (dw/dt) and both glucosermr% and glucoseder% are strongly, inversely related: soon after birth, increases in brain glucose demand are accompanied by proportionate decreases in dw/dt. Ages of peak brain glucose demand and lowest dw/dt co-occur and subsequent developmental declines in brain metabolism are matched by proportionate increases in dw/dt until puberty. The finding that human brain glucose demands peak during childhood, and evidence that brain metabolism and body growth rate covary inversely across development, support the hypothesis that the high costs of human brain development require compensatory slowing of body growth rate.
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30 Own result · 19 No full text of the sources · 11 Own interpretation · 5 Partly supported · 4 Own method · 3 Supported so far · 2 Supported · 2 Sources not found · 2 Not checked yet · 2 No basis given · 1 Not supported · accuracy not yet measured
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“pointing to an important role of aerobic glycolysis in support of synaptic proliferation and growth (28,30).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [28] 28. Goyal MS, Hawrylycz M, Miller JA, Snyder AZ, Raichle ME (2014) Aerobic glycolysis in the human brain is associated with development and neotenous gene expression. Cell Metab 19(1):49-57. source
The Discussion states that aerobic glycolysis correlates with gene expression related to synapse formation and neurite growth, and suggests that it provides biosynthetic support for those processes. This supports the citing sentence’s inference of an important role, while the paper notes that its findings do not establish causation. (LLM, conf=0.90)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [30] 30. Bauernfeind AL, et al. (2014) Aerobic glycolysis in the primate brain: Reconsidering the implications for growth and maintenance. Brain Struct Funct 219(4):1149-1167. source
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In the paper
“This shift in the social context of human child rearing, occurring together with a protracted postnatal development of cortical connectivity (54,55), likely created new opportunities for imitative learning and cumulative, intergenerational development of cultural traditions to become central features of the human adaptive complex (56,57).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [54] 54. Miller DJ, et al. (2012) Prolonged myelination in human neocortical evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109(41):16480-16485. source
Split into 2 atoms — 2 confirmed, 0 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [55] 55. Bufill E, Agustí J, Blesa R (2011) Human neoteny revisited: The case of synaptic plas- ticity. Am J Hum Biol 23(6):729-739. source
- Partly supportedcites [56] 56. Boyd R, Richerson PJ, Henrich J (2011) The cultural niche: Why social learning is es- sential for human adaptation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108(Suppl 2):10918-10925. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 1 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [57] 57. Hill K, Barton M, Hurtado AM (2009) The emergence of human uniqueness: Charac- ters underlying behavioral modernity. Evol Anthropol 18(5):187-200. source
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“suggesting an important role for childhood energetics and substrate availability in diabetes development (62,63).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [62] 62. Ong KK (2006) Size at birth, postnatal growth and risk of obesity. Horm Res 65:(Suppl 3):65-69. source
- Partly supportedcites [63] 63. Norris SA, et al.; COHORTS Group (2012) Size at birth, weight gain in infancy and childhood, and adult diabetes risk in five low-or middle-income country birth co- horts. Diabetes Care 35(1):72-79. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Conclusions (no page provided) link lower birth weight and accelerated weight gain after 48 months with adult glucose intolerance, supporting a role for early growth patterns in diabetes risk. The paper did not measure childhood energetics or substrate availability directly, and it found no increased glucose-intolerance risk from greater infant or early-childhood weight gain. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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In the paper
“and when the energetic buffer of body fat stores are near their lifetime nadir (18).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [18] 18. Kuzawa CW (1998) Adipose tissue in human infancy and childhood: An evolutionary perspective. Am J Phys Anthropol 107(Suppl 27):177-209. source
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In the paper
“The relationships that we document between age changes in brain glucose demands and body-weight growth rate are particularly striking in males, who maintain these inverse linear trends despite experiencing threefold changes in brain glucose demand and body growth rate between 6 mo and 13 y of age.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
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In the paper
“Body-weight growth (dw/dt) and both glucose rmr% and glucose der% are strongly, inversely related: soon after birth, increases in brain glucose demand are accompanied by proportionate decreases in dw/dt.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Abstract
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In the paper
“In females, an earlier onset of pubertal weight gain leads to earlier deviations from similar linear inverse relationships.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
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In the paper
“In the modern human sample evaluated here, an average gram of brain tissue at 4 y uses more than 2.5-times the glucose of a gram of brain at birth (see data in SI Appendix, Tables S1 and S2).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
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In the paper
“we find a more complex pattern of substrate tradeoff.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
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In the paper
“then rises to a lifetime peak of 66.3% and 65.0% of RMR by 4.2-4.4y”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Results
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In the paper
“Studies report interactions between fetal undernutrition or small birth size and childhood weight gain as predictors of diabetes risk”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [62] 62. Ong KK (2006) Size at birth, postnatal growth and risk of obesity. Horm Res 65:(Suppl 3):65-69. source
- Disputedcites [63] 63. Norris SA, et al.; COHORTS Group (2012) Size at birth, weight gain in infancy and childhood, and adult diabetes risk in five low-or middle-income country birth co- horts. Diabetes Care 35(1):72-79. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Results section, “SGA and the associations of weight gain with outcomes” (page unavailable), directly tested whether small-for-gestational-age status or birth weight interacted with conditional weight gain. It found no significant interactions at any age. The paper reports birth weight and later weight gain as separate risk factors, not interacting predictors. (LLM, conf=0.91)
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plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Rudimentary hunting and gathering economies appeared with the emergence of the genus Homo and are believed to have been important in supporting early brain expansion (49)(50)(51).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [49] 49. Bunn H (2006) Meat made us human. Evolution of the Human Diet: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable, ed Unger P (Oxford Univ Press, New York), pp 191-211. source
- Supportedcites [50] 50. Plummer T (2004) Flaked stones and old bones: Biological and cultural evolution at the dawn of technology. Am J Phys Anthropol 125(Suppl 39):118-164. source
The ‘Bridging Subsistence and Sociality’ section describes early Homo foraging that included hunting or scavenging and plant foods, and links its first major increase in cranial capacity possibly to more animal tissue in the diet. The Conclusions identify meat and nutrient-dense plant foods as the likely diet fueling brain expansion in Homo. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.87)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [51] 51. Pobiner BL, Rogers MJ, Monahan CM, Harris JW (2008) New evidence for hominin carcass processing strategies at 1.5 Ma, Koobi Fora, Kenya. J Hum Evol 55(1):103-130. source
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In the paper
“Data on dental eruption point to coevolution between brain expansion and maturational delay (45,46), with a fully modern pattern of delayed physical growth not emerging until the origin of anatomically modern humans (47,48).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [45] 45. Dean MC, Lucas VS (2009) Dental and skeletal growth in early fossil hominins. Ann Hum Biol 36(5):545-561. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [46] 46. Dean C, et al. (2001) Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from Homo erectus and earlier hominins. Nature 414(6864):628-631. source
- Partly supportedcites [47] 47. Smith TM, et al. (2007) Earliest evidence of modern human life history in North African early Homo sapiens. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104(15):6128-6133. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Abstract identifies a 160,000-year-old early H. sapiens juvenile as the oldest-known Homo specimen with dental development more similar to modern humans than to earlier Homo. But it explicitly says when the prolonged modern human developmental pattern originated is unknown. The paper therefore supports evidence of delayed development in early H. sapiens, not the categorical claim that it first emerged with anatomically modern humans. (LLM, conf=0.88)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [48] 48. Smith TM, et al. (2010) Dental evidence for ontogenetic differences between modern humans and Neanderthals. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107(49):20923-20928. source
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In the paper
“Recent work shows that glucose uptake outpaces oxygen use in the human brain, and that this imbalance also peaks at the age of greatest glucose uptake in childhood”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [28] 28. Goyal MS, Hawrylycz M, Miller JA, Snyder AZ, Raichle ME (2014) Aerobic glycolysis in the human brain is associated with development and neotenous gene expression. Cell Metab 19(1):49-57. source
The Results section’s meta-analysis reports that brain glucose consumption exceeds the amount expected from oxygen consumption and that this excess peaks around age 5, when total glucose consumption is also highest. The Methods section explains that oxygen consumption was converted to its glucose equivalent for this comparison; the claim is not comparing the raw quantities in different units. (LLM, conf=0.92)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [30] 30. Bauernfeind AL, et al. (2014) Aerobic glycolysis in the primate brain: Reconsidering the implications for growth and maintenance. Brain Struct Funct 219(4):1149-1167. source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
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In the paper
“These patterns suggest that peak brain glucose uptake during childhood reflects neuronal plasticity in the cerebral cortex (32), which involves overproliferation of energetically costly dendritic arbors and synapses before activity-dependent pruning (33,34).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [32] 32. Chugani HT, Phelps ME, Mazziotta JC (1987) Positron emission tomography study of human brain functional development. Ann Neurol 22(4):487-497. source
- Partly supportedcites [33] 33. Petanjek Z, et al. (2011) Extraordinary neoteny of synaptic spines in the human pre- frontal cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108(32):13281-13286. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The opening section (p. 1) describes initially overproduced cortical synapses followed by activity-dependent selective elimination, and reports that prefrontal dendritic spine density in childhood is two to three times adult levels. It does not establish overproliferation of dendritic arbors or describe these structures as energetically costly. The glucose-uptake interpretation is attached to citation (32), not to this source's citation (33 or 34). (LLM, conf=0.87)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [34] 34. Huttenlocher PR (1979) Synaptic density in human frontal cortex -Developmental changes and effects of aging. Brain Res 163(2):195-205. source
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Every source the paper cites for this claim was checked and supports it.
In the paper
“Pontzer et al. (43) recently showed that humans and other primates have reduced TEEs for their body sizes, despite having basal metabolic rates (BMRs) consistent with those of other mammals.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [43] 43. Pontzer H, et al. (2014) Primate energy expenditure and life history. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111(4):1433-1437. source
The Results and Discussion report that primate TEE was about half that expected for body mass, while primate BMR was similar to that of other placental mammals. The same section notes marginally lower BMR in strepsirrhines, and the Submission PDF states that humans fit the low-TEE primate pattern. (LLM, conf=0.93)
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Probably not a substantial claim.
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In the paper
“An additional limitation is that our analyses are based on cross-sectional brain and body-weight data, which pool fast-and slow-maturing individuals; this pooling can attenuate the apparent magnitude of the pubertal growth spurt while also obscuring the variable timings of its onset (65).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites [65] 65. Tanner JM, Whitehouse RH (1976) Clinical longitudinal standards for height, weight, height velocity, weight velocity, and stages of puberty. Arch Dis Child 51(3):170-179. sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The paper’s Abstract (page not supplied) says cross-sectional standards can mislead because some children have adolescent growth spurts early and others late, supporting the concern that pooling obscures individual timing. It also says the difference from longitudinal standards is especially marked for growth velocity, but does not state that pooling attenuates the apparent magnitude of the spurt. The citing authors’ description of their own brain and body-weight data is not a finding attributed to this source. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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In the paper
“Although normative data on developmental changes in insulin sensitivity during child development are lacking (64)”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Supportedcites [64] 64. Levy-Marchal C, et al.; ESPE-LWPES-ISPAD-APPES-APEG-SLEP-JSPE; Insulin Resistance in Children Consensus Conference Group (2010) Insulin resistance in children: Con- sensus, perspective, and future directions. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 95(12):5189-5198. source
In the section headed “2. Insulin resistance is a continuum” (page unavailable), the paper says cohort sizes are insufficient to establish normative distributions for insulin sensitivity in children. It also says separate standards would need to be developed for different pubertal stages, supporting the claim that normative developmental data are lacking. (LLM, conf=0.87)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“These values represent 1.88-and 1.82-times the daily glucose use of the brain in adulthood”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Results
plainn = 29- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Very similar results were obtained when brain glucose was evaluated in relation to DER”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Results
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In the paper
“The childhood peak in brain glucose uptake is greatest in the cerebrum, and less pronounced in the brainstem and cerebellum (32).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [32] 32. Chugani HT, Phelps ME, Mazziotta JC (1987) Positron emission tomography study of human brain functional development. Ann Neurol 22(4):487-497. source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Starting at 6 mo, each increase in glucose rmr% is matched by a proportionate decrease in dw/dt, with peak glucose rmr% and the trough of dw/dt cooccurring.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Results
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“when the glucose used by the brain comprises the equivalent of 66% of the body's RMR, and roughly 43% of total expenditure.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In males and females, respectively, total brain glucose uptake is the equivalent of 52.5% and 59.8% of RMR at birth”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Results
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Adult glucose rmr% was 19.1% and 24.0% whereas glucose der% was 10.9% and 15.0% in males and females, respectively.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Results
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“before rising to peak levels of 43.3% at 3.8 y (males) and 43.8% at 4 y (females)”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Results
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Both glucose rmr% and glucose der% decline in the first halfyear as a fast but decelerating pace of body growth established in utero initially outpaces postnatal increases in brain metabolism.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“A shift to calorically dense and easily digested foods, and greater food sharing among social groups, would have increased the nutritional quality and stability of the diet (14,15,20).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [14] 14. Foley RA, Lee PC (1991) Ecology and energetics of encephalization in hominid evo- lution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 334(1270):223-231, discussion 232. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [15] 15. Leonard WR, Robertson ML (1992) Nutritional requirements and human evolution: A bioenergetics model. Am J Hum Biol 4(2):179-195. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [20] 20. Aiello LC, Wheeler P (1995) The expensive-tissue hypothesis: The brain and the di- gestive system in human and primate evolution. Curr Anthropol 36(2):199-221. source
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“In macaques the period of peak synaptic density occurs during infancy, whereas in humans and chimpanzees peak synaptic densities take place during the midjuvenile or (in humans) childhood period (44).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [44] 44. Bianchi S, et al. (2013) Synaptogenesis and development of pyramidal neuron den- dritic morphology in the chimpanzee neocortex resembles humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110(Suppl 2):10395-10401. source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Whereas past attempts to quantify the contribution of the brain to the body's metabolic expenditure suggested that the brain accounted for a continuously decreasing fraction of RMR as the brain-to-body weight ratio declined with age (25,31)”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [25] 25. Holliday MA (1986) Body composition and energy needs during growth. Human Growth: A Comprehensive Treatise, Vol 2 Postnatal Growth, eds Falkner F, Tanner JM (Plenum, New York), 2 Ed, pp 117-139. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [31] 31. Holliday MA (1971) Metabolic rate and organ size during growth from infancy to maturity and during late gestation and early infancy. Pediatrics 47(Suppl 2):169-179. source
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim.
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In the paper
“It is notable that the increase in body growth rate at puberty-which is unusually pronounced in humans-is deferred to an age when brain glucose uptake is greatly reduced (1,26,41).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [1] 1. Bogin B (1999) Patterns of Human Growth (Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, UK), 2nd Ed.
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [26] 26. Aiello LC, Wells JCK (2002) Energetics and the evolution of the genus Homo. Annu Rev Anthropol 31:323-328. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [41] 41. Leigh SR (1996) Evolution of human growth spurts. Am J Phys Anthropol 101(4): 455-474. source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“We interpret our finding of an inverse relationship between the brain's demand for glucose and body-weight growth rate as support for the hypothesis that human brain development is sufficiently costly to require a compensatory reduction in expenditure on body growth, thus helping explain our unusually slow rate of childhood growth and resultant delay in attainment of adult size and sexual maturity”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Brain energetics are thus not likely to impose a strong constraint on later juvenile body growth in macaques, whereas in chimpanzees growth is predicted to be slowed in the juvenile period, but to a lesser degree than in humans because of their smaller brains and corresponding lower brain metabolic needs (22).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [22] 22. Leigh SR (2004) Brain growth, life history, and cognition in primate and human evolution. Am J Primatol 62(3):139-164. source
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The finding that human brain glucose demands peak during childhood, and evidence that brain metabolism and body growth rate covary inversely across development, support the hypothesis that the high costs of human brain development require compensatory slowing of body growth rate.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Abstract
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“despite having similar cranial capacities, dental eruption data suggest that Neanderthals grew more rapidly than modern humans (48).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [48] 48. Smith TM, et al. (2010) Dental evidence for ontogenetic differences between modern humans and Neanderthals. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107(49):20923-20928. source
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“It has been noted that the high and inflexible glucose requirements of the developing human brain make it susceptible to impairment from nutritional shortfall (18).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [18] 18. Kuzawa CW (1998) Adipose tissue in human infancy and childhood: An evolutionary perspective. Am J Phys Anthropol 107(Suppl 27):177-209. source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim.
In the paper
“and the latest World Health Organization (WHO) report on human energy requirements similarly finds that caloric needs for body growth are lowest at 4-5 y (38).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [38] 38. Food and Agriculture Organization & World Health Organization (2004) Human En- ergy Requirements: Report of a Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome).
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“A system in which extended social networks provisioned food for children, combined with shifts to calorically dense and easily digested foods procured through hunting (14,15), would have allowed the costs of human brain development to be widely distributed and also buffered against shortfall.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [14] 14. Foley RA, Lee PC (1991) Ecology and energetics of encephalization in hominid evo- lution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 334(1270):223-231, discussion 232. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [15] 15. Leonard WR, Robertson ML (1992) Nutritional requirements and human evolution: A bioenergetics model. Am J Hum Biol 4(2):179-195. source
hedgeddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“Changes in insulin secretion are believed to help coordinate glucose delivery to the brain as brain size and energy requirements change during development (60,61).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Discussion
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [60] 60. Kubera B, et al. (2013) Energy allocation between brain and body during ontogenetic development. Am J Hum Biol 25(6):725-732. source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites [61] 61. Peters A, et al. (2004) The selfish brain: Competition for energy resources. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 28(2):143-180. source
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The lCMRGlc values in the 29 children were compared with those of the seven healthy young adult volunteers, whose detailed neurological and psychological examinations disclosed no abnormalities.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Materials and Methods
plainn = 29- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“Because RMR was estimated from WHO age-and sex- specific predictive equations, there were discontinuities at the ages corre- sponding to changes in the predictive equations (at 3 and 10 y of age) (SI Appendix, Fig. S4).”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Calculation of Glucose rmr% and Glucose der% .
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [38] 38. Food and Agriculture Organization & World Health Organization (2004) Human En- ergy Requirements: Report of a Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation (Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome).
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Written informed consent for the PET procedures was obtained directly from adult participants, and for minors, from parents, with institutional review board oversight by the University of California at Los Angeles Human Subject Protection Committee.”
§ Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development > Materials and Methods
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper relies on this without support.
The Dekaban and Sadowsky brain-weight series is the only available data series that reports brain and body weights from the same individuals and spans birth to adulthood.
“To our knowledge, this highly cited data series is the only one available that reports brain and body weights from the same individuals, and that spans birth to adulthood.”
The paper relies on this without support.
There is no study that includes PET and MRI data in the same healthy individuals spanning birth to adulthood, for ethical reasons.
“For ethical reasons, there is no study that includes PET and MRI data in the same healthy individuals spanning birth to adulthood.”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Developing a large brain is energetically expensive and places a constraint on somatic growth(2).”
From The growth pattern of Neandertals, reconstructed from a juvenile skeleton from El Sidrón (Spain) (2017) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“The unusually high cost of modern human brain development is greatest during the infant and childhood periods and seems to require a compensatory slowing of childhood body growth(2, 3).”
From The growth pattern of Neandertals, reconstructed from a juvenile skeleton from El Sidrón (Spain) (2017) · cites this paper as [2]
In the citing paper
“However, in large brained hominins like modern humans and Neandertals, an accelerated pace of brain growth, coincident with accelerated somatic growth, would impose a high energetic cost (2).”
From The growth pattern of Neandertals, reconstructed from a juvenile skeleton from El Sidrón (Spain) (2017) · cites this paper as [2]
Citations
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“At the stage of rapid development in small children, the brain may consume up to fifty percent of the body’s energy [45].”
BackgroundLi, X., Yin, X., Lu, J., Li, Q.-R., Xing, W., Han, Q., Ji, H. L., Li, S., Yang, H., Guo, J., et al. (2024) · Cells · doi:10.3390/cells13070570 · Cited by 3
“Adolescence is a special period in brain development; evidence suggests that brain energy expenditure is higher in childhood than in adulthood due to the high energy expenditure required for neurodevelopmental processes [22].”
BackgroundAssociation between breakfast patterns and executive function among adolescents in Shanghai, China
Wang, X., Qu, S., Yang, D., Qi, W., Zhang, F., Zhu, R., Sun, L., Yan, Q., Qi, Y., Yue, G., et al. (2024) · Frontiers in Nutrition · doi:10.3389/fnut.2024.1373129 · Cited by 2
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Campbell, B. (2024) · American Journal of Human Biology · doi:10.1002/ajhb.24156 · Cited by 2
“…clearest (1) during early childhood (3– 5 years) when additional glucose from lactose metabolism would support the elevated demands of the brain (Kuzawa et al. 2014); (2) during middle childhood (5– 10 years) when adipose stories are at their lowest (Hackman, Kramer, and Campbell 2024); or (3)…”
Santucci, L., Bernardi, S., Vivarelli, R., Santorelli, F. M., & Marchese, M. (2024) · Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fncel.2024.1445003 · Cited by 2
Fandakova, Y., Raz, N., Lindenberger, U., Khatib, D., Rajan, U., & Stanley, J. A. (2025) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2222-24.2025 · Cited by 2
Harrington, A. R., Kuzawa, C. W., & Boyer, D. (2019) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.23809 · Cited by 2
Self-citationCapturing Context Is Not Enough
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Henry, P. I., & Morelli, G. A. (2022) · Evolutionary psychology · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-76000-7_10 · Cited by 2
Stendel, M. S., Ramstead, M. J. D., & Veissière, S. P. L. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.026 · Cited by 2
Strauss, K. A. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-53363-2_44 · Cited by 2
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Zagha, N., & Winner, B. (2022) · Advances in neuroethics · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-97641-5_2 · Cited by 2
32. Human Evolutionary Demography
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Singletary, B. (2019) · Infant Behavior and Development · doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2019.101361 · Cited by 2
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“…larger and more energetically expensive brain than our hominin ancestors, for example, is thought to have shunted calories away from physical growth and, therefore, to have played a role in the evolution of humans’ extended duration of subadult development (Leonard et al. 2003; Kuzawa et al. 2014).”
BackgroundNeuroendocrine Regulation of Puberty
Terasawa, E., & Levine, J. E. (2016) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-803592-4.00106-1 · Cited by 2
Oxygen and the Spark of Human Brain Evolution: a Complex Systems AccountPreprint
Luppi, A., Rosas, F. E., Noonan, M. P., Mediano, P. A. M., Kringelbach, M. L., Carhart-Harris, R. L., Stamatakis, E. A., Vernon, A. C., & Turkheimer, F. (2022) · Preprints.org · doi:10.20944/preprints202206.0002.v1 · Cited by 2
van Schaik, C. P. (2022) · doi:10.32942/osf.io/642xb · Cited by 1
Zaunseder, E., Mütze, U., Okun, J. G., Hoffmann, G. F., Kölker, S., Heuveline, V., & Thiele, I. (2023) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2023.10.20.563364 · Cited by 2
The Neural Mechanisms Underlying Social Norms
Mu, Y., & Gelfand, M. J. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.015 · Cited by 2
Tipton, M., Baxter, B. A., Pfluger, B. A., et al. (2024) · Molecular Nutrition & Food Research · doi:10.1002/mnfr.202300222 · Cited by 1
The evolution of fear-acquisition strategies under predation
Bishop, M. E., Servedio, M. R., & Lerch, B. A. (2024) · Journal of Theoretical Biology · doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2024.111949 · Cited by 2
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Rohmatullayaly, E. N., Nasihin, S. R., Maulidinda, K. N., Pangastuti, S. S., & Widiyani, T. (2024) · HAYATI Journal of Biosciences · doi:10.4308/hjb.32.1.185-195 · Cited by 2
“At an early age, slow and prolonged somatic growth (skeletal growth and other organs) allows more energy to be allocated to the rapid growth of the brain (Kuzawa et al. 2014).”
Evolution of the Human Life Cycle, Revisited
Bogin, B. A., & Smith, B. H. (2025) · American Journal of Human Biology · doi:10.1002/ajhb.70018 · Cited by 1
“Studies of energy allocation by Kuzawa et al. (2014) might lead us to refine some interpretations of 1996.”
Socioeconomic deprivation, brain morphology, and body fat among children and adolescents
Yang, A., Lu, H. J., & Chang, L. (2025) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2025.106315 · Cited by 3
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Lickfett, S., Menacho, C., Cambridge, S. B., & Prigione, A. (2025) · Stem Cells · doi:10.1093/stmcls/sxaf050 · Cited by 2
Twenty Years Later: Growth Rates and Life Histories in Twenty‐Two Small‐Scale Societies
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Chie, J. A. K. C., Persohn, S. A., Simcox, O. R., Collins, A., Salama, P., & Territo, P. R. (2026) · Alzheimer s & Dementia · doi:10.1002/alz.71496 · Cited by 1
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Fuentes, A., French, J. C., Hawks, J., Kissel, M., & Spikins, P. (2026) · Journal of Archaeological Science · doi:10.1016/j.jas.2025.106441 · Cited by 1
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“In contrast, the drift terms Kuzawa et al., 2014 ) which might be redirected to digestive tissue as animals need more energy to grow and maintain larger bodies.”
Macho, G. A. (2016) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199694013.013.26 · Cited by 1
Ligrone, R. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-16057-9_12 · Cited by 2
Chau, P. ‐., & Herring, J. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-60208-6_3 · Cited by 1
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Putt, S. S. (2023) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192895950.013.21 · Cited by 1
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“At age six, the brain is already at 90 percent of its adult volume (cf. Goyal et al., 2018; Goyal & Raichle, 2018; Kuzawa et al., 2014; Raichle, 2006; Raichle & Gusnard, 2002; Steiner, 2020).”
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Phylogeny and Life History Patterns
Caldwell, A. E. (2016) · SpringerBriefs in anthropology · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-30409-0_3 · Cited by 1
The Molecular Landscape of the Developing Human Central Nervous System
Zhu, Y., Silbereis, J. C., Pochareddy, S., Li, M., & Šestan, N. (2016) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-800105-9.00013-5 · Cited by 2
Energetic Trade-Offs and Physical Activity During Childhood and Adolescence
Caldwell, A. E. (2016) · SpringerBriefs in anthropology · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-30409-0_6 · Cited by 1
Population Dynamics and Long-Term Trajectory of Dendritic Spines
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“According to the recent studies on metabolic costs during human brain development, brain glucose uptake reaches adult levels by 2 years old and peaks at around 5 years old and decreases to adult levels later on (Kuzawa et al., 2014), which indicates a similar trajectory to the spine density evolution that we have disc…”
BackgroundGrundlagen der kindlichen Entwicklung
Jenni, O. G. (2020) · Springer Reference Medizin · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-60300-0_3 · Cited by 2
Culture, Mind, and Brain in Human Evolution
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“The energy demands of the brain are extremely high, accounting for 20 – 50% of the body’s glucose usage depending on age (Erbsloh et al., 1958; Kuzawa et al., 2014; McCrimmon, 2009; Mergenthaler et al., 2013); inadequate glucose supply for the brain, as seen during severe hypoglycaemia during insulin therapy to treat…”
BackgroundLife History: Evolution of Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence
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“…that the brain is an organ so costly in energy that growth and maturation must be spread out over a long period, even to the point of sacrificing physical growth of the skeleton and overall body size when energy demand peaks for the brain (Hublin, Neubauer, and Gunz 2015; Kuzawa et al. 2014).”
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Electrophysiology and Morphology of Human Cortical Supragranular Pyramidal Cells in a Wide Age RangePreprint
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Mitochondrial Dynamics in Regressive Autism & the Surprising Link to GeniusPreprint
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Metadata
- Authors
- Kuzawa, C. W., Chugani, H. T., Grossman, L. I., Lipovich, L., Muzik, O., Hof, P. R., Wildman, D. E., Sherwood, C. C., Leonard, W. R., & Lange, N.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern University (US)
- Children's Hospital of Michigan (US)
- Wayne State University (US)
- Department of Pediatrics,
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- George Washington University (US)
- Department of Anthropology,
- Harvard University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2014-08-25
- Volume
- 111
- Issue
- 36
- Pages
- 13010-13015
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC4246958
- OpenAlex
- W2069193149
- Cited by
- 585
- References
- 74
- Citations by year
- 2026: 47 · 2025: 66 · 2024: 58 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 57 · 2020: 81 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 40 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 6
- FWCI
- 44.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0827531, 220020293, 0827546)
- James S. McDonnell Foundation (220020293)
- National Institutes of Health (n01ns092319-000, n01ns092317-000, n01ns92315-15-0-1, n01hd23343-8-0-0, n01ns092314-002, n01ns092316-000, n01ns092318-002, n01mh90002-26-0-0, NS034783)
- National Institute of Mental Health (N01-MH09-0002)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (N01 NS092318, N01 NS002320, R56NS034783, N01 NS092316, N01 NS092314, N01 NS092315, N01 NS092317, N01 NS092319, R01NS034783)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (N01-HD023343)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Developmental Neuroscience › Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
- Keywords
- human brain development, brain glucose uptake, resting metabolic rate, daily energy requirements, body growth rate, life history evolution, puberty
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aging, Basal Metabolism, Body Weight, Brain, Biological Evolution, Female, Glucose, Humans, Male, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-11, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-11 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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