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Stone Agers in the Fast Lane: Chronic Degenerative Diseases in Evolutionary Perspective

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... Like other organisms, Homo sapiens have adapted to environmental circumstances and exposures over time, through natural selection. This Darwinian concept, central to evolutionary biology and medicine, has been invoked to explain the rise of various diseases and health disorders in contemporary societies, including, but not limited to, obesity, acne vulgaris, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. A mismatch between current dietary practices and those to which we are accustomed, is a core issue [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. ...
... This Darwinian concept, central to evolutionary biology and medicine, has been invoked to explain the rise of various diseases and health disorders in contemporary societies, including, but not limited to, obesity, acne vulgaris, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. A mismatch between current dietary practices and those to which we are accustomed, is a core issue [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. ...
... Cholesterol values intermediate to those in HG communities and industrialized societies have been reported in horticultural, farming, and pastoral populations [15,106,120,139,140]. As compared to Swedes, Lindeberg et al. found that TC was lower for Kitavan males, as well as for women over 60 years of age [120]. ...
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Evolutionary perspectives have yielded profound insights in health and medical sciences. A fundamental recognition is that modern diet and lifestyle practices are mismatched with the human physiological constitution, shaped over eons in response to environmental selective pressures. This Darwinian angle can help illuminate and resolve issues in nutrition, including the contentious issue of fat consumption. In the present paper, the intake of saturated fat in ancestral and contemporary dietary settings is discussed. It is shown that while saturated fatty acids have been consumed by human ancestors across time and space, they do not feature dominantly in the diets of hunter-gatherers or projected nutritional inputs of genetic accommodation. A higher intake of high-fat dairy and meat products produces a divergent fatty acid profile that can increase the risk of cardiovascular and inflammatory disease and decrease the overall satiating-, antioxidant-, and nutrient capacity of the diet. By prioritizing fiber-rich and micronutrient-dense foods, as well as items with a higher proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, and in particular the long-chain polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, a nutritional profile that is better aligned with that of wild and natural diets is achieved. This would help prevent the burdening diseases of civilization, including heart disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative conditions. Saturated fat is a natural part of a balanced diet; however, caution is warranted in a food environment that differs markedly from the one to which we are adapted.
... The biomarkers-serum cholesterol and triglycerides (TGs), aerobic fitness, blood pressure (BP), and body compositionmeasured in nonindustrial, especially HG, populations confer low risk for these conditions. 5 Various lines of evidence support this thesis. For example, when HGs on different continents transition to market economies, their dietary quality declines, including a reduction in diversity of foods, fewer vegetables, fruits, and animal products, and more sugar, salt, and oil. ...
... Similarly, estimates of HGs' aerobic and muscular fitness were compared to published data from the United States and other industrial and postindustrial societies. 5 Together, these comparisons supported recommendations that industrial and postindustrial populations need to increase physical activity, balance caloric intake with caloric expenditure and improve both cardiopulmonary fitness and muscle strength. Health promotion proposals based on an evolutionary perspective were extraordinary 13 and attracted extensive media attention-mainly mockery-ironically foreshadowing the eventual popularity of "Paleo" diets. ...
... Average HG total serum cholesterol levels were below 135, their typical aerobic fitness matched that of today's superior athletes and their levels of insulin resistance and HTN were minimal. 5 Consequently, older HGs rarely suffered CAD, T2DM, COPD, colon disorders, or certain other currently common noninfectious ailments, 21,22 although they did suffer some spinal disorders common to all human populations due to the imperfect evolution of erect posture. 12 ...
Article
Beginning in 1985, we and others presented estimates of hunter-gatherer (and ultimately ancestral) diet and physical activity, hoping to provide a model for health promotion. The Hunter-Gatherer Model was designed to offset the apparent mismatch between our genes and the current Western-type lifestyle, a mismatch that arguably affects prevalence of many chronic degenerative diseases. The effort has always been controversial and subject to both scientific and popular critiques. The present article (1) addresses eight such challenges, presenting for each how the model has been modified in response, or how the criticism can be rebutted; (2) reviews new epidemiological and experimental evidence (including especially randomized controlled clinical trials); and (3) shows how official recommendations put forth by governments and health authorities have converged toward the model. Such convergence suggests that evolutionary anthropology can make significant contributions to human health.
... The hypothesis that our physiological and cognitive traits were adaptively selected for during the course of our evolutionary history, and still persist within environments today that are vastly divergent from the ancestral worlds in which they originally evolved, was debuted in the early 1980s (Cordain et al., 2005;Eaton et al., 1988). Since then, "evolutionary mismatch theory" has sparked a wealth of research principally interested in health implications of such discordances, in turn rationalizing health conditions like obesity as a product of a dysfunctional interaction between our selected traits (e.g. ...
... preferences for sweet tastes and fatty textures) and certain elements of our current environment (e.g. pronounced availability of ultra-processed energydense foods) (Chakravarthy & Booth, 2004;Cordain et al., 2005;Eaton et al., 1988;Li et al., 2017;Lloyd et al., 2011). In support of this narrative, bio-anthropological data convincingly show dietary consequences (e.g. ...
... We expected that if individuals continue to house cognitive adaptations that are mismatched to existing evolutionary novel food-replete conditions, obesogenic consequences on foraging-related behavior could ensue (Eaton et al., 1988;Lieberman, 2006). We found that both objective and perceived search performance were moderately better for (savory-tasting) high-calorie products than low-calorie alternatives that were matched on spatial distributions within the supermarket environment. ...
... These diets should be introduced and promoted to existing patients, prospective outpatients, and their family members: concentrating interventions on pregnant mothers, infants and children as well as the elderly, particularly in middle and lower income countries where NCDs are rapidly emerging [11]. The Paleolithic Homo sapiens, hunter-gatherers and early peasants, had marked variations in food consumption patterns compared to Asian and Homo economicus Western populations [12][13][14] (Tables 1and 2). The foods consumed by the Hunter-gatherers were mainly those foods provided by nature, but foods consumed by the modern world are manufactured by the industry which has adverse effects on risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and other NCDs. ...
... introduction. Functional food security means that such foods should be available at affordable cost for human consumption because of their role in providing optimal health and in the prevention of obesity and metabolic syndrome that are risk factors of NCDs [2,12,13,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. It is important to plan for current and future needs taking into consideration healthcare costs which future generations may not be able to afford if functional food security is not sought. ...
... The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article Modified from Eaton et al. [13,14] and Singh et al. [1] references. ...
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There is evidence that optimal nutrition is fundamental to human health and in the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) later in adult life. The identification, production and consumption of functional foods worldwide can increase health benefits for all who can access and afford such foods subject to advice from nutritionists. Recent meetings organized by the health agencies, give a crucial opportunity to make nutrition, a central part of the post-2015 sustainable human and agricultural development agenda. The aim of discussions in these meetings was to provide functional crops and foods to achieve optimal health by prevention of NCDs. It is possible that these efforts might ensure that the goals and targets set in the agenda are adequate to address the many challenges of global undernutrition as well as obesity which are major risk factors of NCDs. In many developing and middle income countries, food security provided by the governments, in one sense understandably, gave least consideration to functional foods supply and the prevention of obesity and metabolic syndrome, resulting in to emergence of NCDs. The Thailand Declaration reiterates that commitments to eradicate hunger and undernutrition as well as over-nutrition, and to increase investments in effective interventions; designers foods and designers crops. However, in planning coherent policies, our past experience on rapidly absorbed, energy-rich processed foods should be taken in to account while developing sustainable food systems. The food industry should be educated to exploit the expertise of food scientists and health professionals in designing functional foods taking cognizance of manufacturing and processing. Similarly, agriculture scientists may be actively involved in educating farmers so as to grow cash crops providing functional foods. The aim should be to achieve an increase in the availability of functional foods to an extent, or by a policy, by which such foods are available to poors, at affordable cost to prevent hunger and undernutrition and related diseases as well as NCDs. In addition our efforts might help in developing an international consensus on how to approach the development of new designer foods by farmers and food industry to produce low glycemic index foods. Such efforts may establish an international framework for the prevention of NCDs, so that human susceptibility to these diseases is substantially diminished.
... It has become increasingly clear that the spread of "Western," industrialized lifestyles is contributing to a rapid rise in metabolic and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) worldwide (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Since the Industrial Revolution, modern advancements in agriculture, transportation, and manufacture have had a profound impact on human diets and activity patterns, such that calorie-dense food is often easily accessible and adequate nutrition can be achieved with a sedentary lifestyle. ...
... Attempts to test the evolutionary mismatch hypothesis thus far have largely focused on comparing cardiometabolic health outcomes between industrialized nations and small-scale, subsistence-level groups (e.g., hunter-gatherers, horticulturalists, and pastoralists). Arguably, the diets and activity patterns of these subsistence-level groups are relatively in line with their recent evolutionary history, and these populations can thus be thought of as "matched" to their evolutionary past (1,5). In support of the evolutionary mismatch hypothesis, essentially, all subsistence-level populations studied to date show minimal type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and heart disease relative to the United States and Europe (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). ...
... Arguably, the diets and activity patterns of these subsistence-level groups are relatively in line with their recent evolutionary history, and these populations can thus be thought of as "matched" to their evolutionary past (1,5). In support of the evolutionary mismatch hypothesis, essentially, all subsistence-level populations studied to date show minimal type 2 diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and heart disease relative to the United States and Europe (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). Two other classes of studies provide further support: (i) Indigenous populations that have recently transitioned to market-based economies show higher rates of obesity and metabolic syndrome compared to subsistence-level groups [e.g., (14,15)] and (ii) comparisons between rural and urban areas in developing countries have found higher rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and obesity in the urban, industrialized setting (16)(17)(18)(19)(20). ...
Article
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The "mismatch" between evolved human physiology and Western lifestyles is thought to explain the current epidemic of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in industrialized societies. However, this hypothesis has been difficult to test because few populations concurrently span ancestral and modern lifestyles. To address this gap, we collected interview and biomarker data from individuals of Turkana ancestry who practice subsistence-level, nomadic pastoralism (the ancestral way of life for this group), as well as individuals who no longer practice pastoralism and live in urban areas. We found that Turkana who move to cities exhibit poor cardiometabolic health, partially because of a shift toward "Western diets" high in refined carbohydrates. We also show that being born in an urban area independently predicts adult health, such that lifelong city dwellers will experience the greatest CVD risk. By focusing on a substantial lifestyle gradient, our work thus informs the timing, magnitude, and evolutionary causes of CVD.
... There was also a different composition of micronutrients. 1 The assumption that a palaeolithic diet results in healthier food choices is supported by the observation that people whose nutrition is similar to those of our ancestors rarely experience health problems. 3 Clinical studies have examined the effect of a palaeolithic diet on metabolic diseases and weight loss with positive results. The positive effects are attributed to improved plasma glucose levels, lower cardiovascular risk factors, increased insulin sensitivity and an improved lipid profile. ...
... So far, first evidence suggests that a palaeolithic lifestyle characterized by endurance training improves performance related parameters as the VO 2max . 3 The effects of a palaeolithic diet on performance in endurance athletes are scare. A first clinical study in patients subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus showed, that the combination of a palaeolithic diet and exercise led to an improvement in VO 2 max . ...
Article
Full-text available
Background Although a palaeolithic diet promotes healthier food choices that aid in weight management and reduce cardiovascular risks, its effectiveness in endurance sports is still debated due to its typically low carbohydrate content. Objective This study examined the impact of a 6-week palaeolithic diet (PD-G) versus a mixed diet (MD-G), both paired with Sprint interval training (SIT), on various metabolic and performance-related parameters. Methods Body composition, time trial (TT) performance (covered distance during a 60-minute run on a 400-metre track) and changes in metabolic (respiratory exchange ratio [RER], substrate oxidation rates) and performance-related (time at ventilatory threshold [VT] and respiratory compensation point [RCP], maximum oxygen uptake (V̇O2max) and time to exhaustion [TTE]) parameters during a ramp incremental running test were assessed in 14 male endurance athletes. Additionally, Gastrointestinal Quality of Life index (GLQI) and perceptual responses to the diets [visual analogue scale (VAS)] were measured. Results After 6 weeks, both groups improved in TTE and distance covered in the 60-minute TT, without significant group differences. In the PD-G body weight, fat mass and systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased. At rest, RER and carbohydrate oxidation significantly decreased in the PD-G, with a tendency towards significance during exercise, while changes in fat oxidation rates were not statistically significant at rest and throughout the exercise test; in contrast, the MD-G exhibited smaller changes across these parameters. Conclusion In this investigation, a palaeolithic diet in combination with SIT appeared to have positive effects on fat mass, blood pressure and substrate utilization under resting conditions in a group of male endurance athletes. However, based on the current findings for performance metrics, a palaeolithic diet cannot be recommended unreservedly for healthy endurance athletes.
... The term 'mismatch', however, was only first used as an alternative to 'adaptive lag' in 1988 [6]. It was used in this sense in Williams and Nesse's influential 1991 paper 'The Dawn of Darwinian Medicine' [2] and their still more influential 1994 book Why We Get Sick [3]. ...
... The primary target of these criticisms is the use of the EEA concept in evolutionary psychology, although naive understandings of the EEA also underlie a number of fallacies about human health [32]. According to Buller, evolutionary psychologists regard the EEA as a specific set of environmental factors, and this way of thinking can also be seen in the first paper to use the term 'mismatch' in evolutionary medicine [6]. However, the EEA is not usually conceived as a specific set of environmental factors, let alone a specific place and time in history, but rather as a set of parameters in a model of natural selection. ...
Article
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Contemporary evolutionary medicine has unified the idea of ‘evolutionary mismatch’, derived from the older idea of ‘adaptive lag’ in evolution, with ideas about the mismatch in development and physiology derived from the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) paradigm. A number of publications in evolutionary medicine have tried to make this theoretical framework explicit. The integrative theory of mismatch captures how organisms track environments across space and time on multiple scales in order to maintain an adaptive match to the environment, and how failures of adaptive tracking lead to disease. In this review, we try to present this complex body of theory as clearly and simply as possible with the aim of facilitating its application in new domains. We introduce terminology, which is as far as possible consistent with earlier usage, to distinguish the different forms of mismatch. Mismatch in its modern form is a productive organizing concept that can help researchers articulate how physiology, development and evolution interact with one another and with environmental change to explain health outcomes.
... Innate drives to conserve energy have only recently been coupled with massive abundances of calorically dense, easy-to-acquire foods. When environments change rapidly, or are vastly different from the environment in which selection was acting to shape a trait or behavior, a discordance or mismatch can occur (24)(25)(26)(27). In these mismatched environments, previously adaptive behaviors or mechanisms may no longer increase reproductive success, and can even be detrimental to reproduction or survival. ...
... Among reproductive age women (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39), the prevalence of obesity more than 11,12,37 . This reproductive phenotype was observed in a subset of perimenopausal women (n=848) participating in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN) 11 . ...
Chapter
This chapter presents an evolutionary framework for understanding why there are bidirectional relationships between sex hormones and exercise and how these relationships are predicted to influence women’s behavior and health. An evolutionary perspective highlights the importance of understanding how physiology and behavior have been shaped by natural selection, in order to derive hypotheses for why and how exercise can influence sex hormones and, of particular interest for this book, why and how sex hormones can influence exercise. Natural selection operates on variability in a trait, mechanism, or behavior, to favor those that increase the likelihood of survival or reproductive success when facing recurring problems over long-term evolutionary history. Because it is very energetically costly for human females to reproduce, feedbacks between reproductive hormones and energy availability have evolved so that when energy availability is low (because of high levels of physical activity and/or low levels of dietary intake), an adaptive shift occurs, and the reproductive axis is suppressed, reflected initially in lower levels of estrogen and progesterone, and a reduced likelihood of becoming pregnant while energetic resources are lower. However, prolonged impairments of the reproductive axis may prompt an adaptive reduction in physical activity to help resume reproduction despite low energy availability. This framework also leads to theory-driven hypotheses regarding factors—such as individual conditions and cues of resource scarcity—that can predictably influence individual differences in the relationships between sex hormones and exercise.KeywordsEvolutionNatural selectionReproductive fitnessSex hormonesPhysical activityExerciseReproductive ecology
... Hunting and gathering, looking for shelter and water resources required walking -and sometimes runninglong distances. These daily activity patterns have been typical of 99% of our evolutionary history (Eaton et al. 1988). ...
... In order to collect vegetabile foods, but also to look for a new base camp or water whole, people had to move around for hours every day. In addition, women had to carry their children for long distances until they were about 4 years old (Eaton et al. 1988). High physical activity was an essential factor to survive, consequently, the physically active life style of our ancestors was not motivated by the desire of leisure time activities, physical activity was the key factor to Complimentary Contributor Copy avoid hunger, thirst and danger (Walker et al. 2003). ...
Chapter
Sporting role models (SRM) can inspire and influence attitude and behavior. This chapter examines the influence of six Indigenous Australian sportswomen: cricketers Faith Thomas and Ashleigh Gardner, netballers Marcia Ella-Duncan and Jemma MiMi, and tennis players Evonne Goolagong-Cawley and Ashleigh Barty. By applying and extending Marianne Meier’s (2015) theoretical lens, it unearths and examines their role as SRMs for women and girls. Meier (2015) recognizes and describes nine functions of SRMs: participation, leadership, advocacy, challenging gender stereotypes, inspiration, ethics, safeguarding and prevention, media and corporates, and giving back. Correspondingly, Meier also identifies three categories on a ‘continuum of interaction’ between an observer and a successful SRM. Metaphorically the women start in silence; however, the evidence suggests that they gain—and sometimes regain—voice, often beyond their sport careers. Understanding Indigenous sportswomen’s SRM status enables a layered and deep understanding of the unique platform provided by sport, which serves to strengthen their influence. The research recognizes a tenth function of female Indigenous SRMs—that of cultural maintenance. Findings illuminate how Indigenous Australian sportswomen are constructed in complex and sometimes contradictory ways, at times portrayed as advocates, deviants, sporting ambassadors, and political activists. Further research is needed to untangle the complexities and fluidity of female Indigenous Australian SRMs in the evolving worlds of both professional and community sport.
... Entsprechend wird postuliert: Kostformen, die vom altsteinzeitlichen Muster abweichen, beeinträchtigen die Gesundheit und führen zu Erkrankungen. Denn seit Einführung des Ackerbaus vor 12 000-10 000 Jahren habe der Mensch entwicklungsgeschichtlich keine Möglichkeit gehabt, sich genetisch an die "neuen" Ernährungsverhältnisse anzupassen [11,13,14]. Eine von der altsteinzeitlichen Kost abweichende Ernährung gilt deshalb als Hauptursache für typische "Zivilisationskrankheiten" wie Typ-2-Diabetes, bestimmte Krebsformen, Fettstoffwechselstörungen und Bluthochdruck sowie Autoimmunerkrankungen, darunter Zöliakie und rheumatoide Arthritis [14 -16]. ...
... Adipositas, Diabetes mellitus Typ 2, Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen und Hypertonie auf. Auch bei körperlichen Leistungstests sowie im Hinblick auf die Gesamtcholesterolkonzentration im Serum schneiden Jäger und Sammler sehr gut ab [13,61]. Allerdings muss unklar bleiben, ob diese Befunde auf die spezifische Jäger-und-Sammler-Ernährung als solche oder auf andere Lebensstilfaktoren (Bewegung, Fehlen von Disstress, Schlafverhalten) zurückzuführen sind. ...
... Our current genome is basically unchanged from that of the hunter-gatherer; 99% of mankind's existence has been spent consuming a forager's diet (Gluckman, Beedle, Hanson, 2009). The Paleolithic era (35,000-20,000 B.P.) was the last time period our genome existed within a bio-environmentally matched environment (Eaton, Konner, Shostak, 1988). Our diet has changed significantly from the hunter-gatherer diet due to the agricultural revolution (5,000-11,000 B.P., depending on location) and more recently, due to the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840). ...
... Chronic disease is rare in cultures with a more traditional nutritional environment. Although a comparison between modern foraging cultures and our ancient origins is only an approximation, it is notable that obesity and type II diabetes typically are the first chronic diseases to appear in economically transitioning societies (Eaton, Konner, Shostak, 1988). Industrialized, western culture has a higher prevalence of diabetes (3.0-10.0 ...
Thesis
Over recent decades, chronic disease has trended upwards, associated with the mismatch between our modern nutritional environment and our paleolithic genome. The beverage industry has exploded in sync with chronic conditions, including bladder symptomatology. This dissertation uses the logic and paradigm of evolutionary medicine to examine the modern beverage culture as a cause of the current high overactive bladder prevalence rates (17-31%, age dependent). A natural experiment exemplar concludes the dissertation with proof of concept that societal-wide influences to hyper-hydrate by drinking beyond thirst influences non-pathological changes to bladder state. The study is a secondary analysis with main outcome measure as void frequency. In this natural experiment, the preventative treatment group is considered to be 40 women who at 8 months postpartum are not breastfeeding and hence not receiving same degree of societal messaging to hyper-hydrate, as compared to 52 breastfeeding women . The preventative treatment group (non-breastfeeding women) show significantly lower daily beverage intake (62.6 oz) than the breastfeeding group (77.6 oz), p = 0.01. Results show a strong trend towards a significantly lower average number of daily voids in the preventative treatment group who have less societal messaging compared to the control group with high societal messaging (6.3 voids/day versus 7.2 voids/day respectively), p = .04. This natural experiment provides first evidence-based proof of concept for the argument that in terms of evolutionary perspective, the new (50 years) cultural milieu of the beverage driven society may be driving the contemporaneous increase in bladder symptoms, and that its prevalence may lessen without conscious individual effort if societal messages to hyper-hydrate (drink beyond thirst) decrease. The dissertation concludes with recommendation for more research to test the theoretical construct that non-pathological but bothersome and costly symptoms of overactive bladder occur when our evolutionarily designed bladder is exposed to the modern beverage driven society.
... The term 'mismatch' was first used to label the phenomenon of adaptive lag in 1988 (Eaton et al. [1988], p. 739). It was used in the same sense in Williams and Nesse's influential 1991 paper 'The Dawn of Darwinian Medicine' ([1991], p. 9) and their book Why We Get Sick (Nesse and Williams [1994]). ...
... The primary target of these criticisms is the use of the EEA concept in evolutionary psychology. According to Buller evolutionary psychologists regard the EEA as a specific set of environmental factors, and this way of thinking can be seen in the first paper to use the term 'mismatch' in evolutionary medicine (Eaton et al. [1988]). However, as can be seen in the models presented in Section 3, the EEA is not normally conceived as a specific set of environmental factors, let alone a specific place and time in history, but as a set of parameters in a model of natural selection. ...
Article
Mismatch is a prominent concept in evolutionary medicine and a number of philosophers have published analyses of this concept. The word ‘mismatch’ has been used in a diversity of ways across a range of sciences, leading these authors to regard it as a vague concept in need of philosophical clarification. Here, in contrast, we concentrate on the use of mismatch in modelling and experimentation in evolutionary medicine. This reveals a rigorous theory of mismatch within which the term ‘mismatch’ is indeed used in several ways, not because it is ill-defined but because different forms of mismatch are.distinguished within the theory. Contemporary evolutionary medicine has unified the idea of ‘evolutionary mismatch’, derived from the older idea of ‘adaptive lag’ in evolution, with ideas about mismatch in development and physiology derived from the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) paradigm. A number of publications in evolutionary medicine have tried to make this theoretical framework explicit. We build on these to present the theory in as simple and general a form as possible. We introduce terminology, largely drawn from the existing literature, to distinguish the different forms of mismatch. This integrative theory of mismatch captures how organisms track environments across space and time on multiple scales in order to maintain an adaptive match to the environment, and how failures of adaptive tracking lead to disease. Mismatch is a productive organising concept within this theory which helps researchers articulate how physiology, development and evolution interact with one another and with environmental change to explain health outcomes.
... sedentary | hunter-gatherer | posture | physical activity | cardiovascular disease T he evolution of the genus Homo was marked by a shift toward high levels of physical activity in a hunting and gathering lifestyle that included long-distance walking and possibly running at moderate to high intensities (1)(2)(3)(4). Thus, many suggest our physiological reliance on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) to prevent chronic diseases is a product of this evolutionary history (5)(6)(7)(8). However, a separate set of physiological changes occur during inactivity and may also lead to chronic diseases in sedentary populations, even in individuals who are highly active (9)(10)(11)(12)(13). ...
... economies, researchers often assume that time spent sedentary is more limited in hunting and gathering populations than in industrialized societies, and that human physiology is simply not well adapted to long periods of inactivity (23). However, some ethnographic data suggests human foragers engage in large amounts of rest and inactivity (24)(25)(26), and foraging populations remain relatively free from CVD (5,6,22,27). While inactivity may be more common than assumed in these populations, people living in smallscale foraging societies may practice styles of inactivity distinct from those seen in urban populations. ...
Article
Significance Inactivity is a growing public health risk in industrialized societies, leading some to suggest that our bodies did not evolve to be sedentary. Here, we show that, in a group of hunter-gatherers, time spent sedentary is similar to that found in industrialized populations. However, sedentary time in hunter-gatherers is often spent in postures like squatting that lead to higher levels of muscle activity than chair sitting. Thus, we suggest human physiology likely evolved in a context that included substantial inactivity, but increased muscle activity during sedentary time, suggesting an inactivity mismatch with the more common chair-sitting postures found in contemporary urban populations.
... There is some indication that variation in market integration and engagement in traditional pastoral activities do affect nutrition beyond levels of nutritional security. Typically, African pastoralists have diets that are high in protein, low in fat, with relatively little access to sugar [3,53,54]. Self-reported meat consumption did not vary across our sample. Our team's observations of increased frequency of consuming fish, which is not part of the traditional Daasanach diet, can result in a significantly higher rate of protein consumption overall in those nearer to market centers. ...
Article
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Background and objectives Non-communicable disease (NCD) risk and the epidemic of cardiometabolic diseases continue to grow across the expanding industrialized world. Probing the relationships between evolved human physiology and modern socioecological condition is central to understanding this health crisis. Therefore, we investigated the relationships between increased market access, shifting subsistence patterns, and cardiometabolic health indicators within Daasanach semi-nomadic pastoralists who vary in their engagement in traditional lifestyle and emerging market behaviors. Methodology We conducted cross-sectional socioecological, demographic, and lifestyle stressor surveys along with health, biomarker, and nutrition examinations among 225 (51.6% female) Daasanach adults in 2019-2020. We used linear mixed effects models to test how differing levels of engagement in market integration and traditional subsistence activities related to blood pressure (BP), body composition, and blood chemistry. Results We found that systolic and diastolic BP, as well as probability of having high BP (hypertension), were negatively associated with distance to market, a proxy for market integration. Additionally, body composition varied significantly by socioeconomic status (SES), with significant positive associations between BMI and body fat and higher SES among adults. Conclusions and Implications While evidence for evolutionary mismatch and health variation have been found across a number of populations affected by an urban/rural divide, these results demonstrate effects of market integration and sedentarization on cardiometabolic health associated with the early stages of lifestyle changes. Our findings provide evidence for the changes in health when small-scale populations begin the processes of sedentarization and market integration that results from myriad market pressures.
... An additional burden for people with obesity is the associated social stigma of obesity, which involves bias or discriminatory behaviours targeted at people with overweight or obesity because of their weight, Therefore, it is not surprising that there was strong natural selection on various genes that favoured fat storage and retention, especially those related to appetite and metabolism. Whereas wild chimpanzees have about 5-9% of body fat, male hunter-gatherer individuals have an average of 10-15% of body fat and female hunter-gatherer individuals an average of 15-25% of body fat 25 . Despite the relatively high percentage of body fat in humans, obesity was exceedingly rare until very recently in our history (the prevalence in women and men combined was <5% worldwide in 1975) (ref. 1 ) because of the lack of conditions that allowed for the sustained positive energy balance necessary to become overweight or obese 21 . ...
Article
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The prevalence of obesity has reached pandemic proportions, and now approximately 25% of adults in Westernized countries have obesity. Recognized as a major health concern, obesity is associated with multiple comorbidities, particularly cardiometabolic disorders. In this Review, we present obesity as an evolutionarily novel condition, summarize the epidemiological evidence on its detrimental cardiometabolic consequences and discuss the major mechanisms involved in the association between obesity and the risk of cardiometabolic diseases. We also examine the role of potential moderators of this association, with evidence for and against the so-called 'metabolically healthy obesity phenotype', the 'fatness but fitness' paradox or the 'obesity paradox'. Although maintenance of optimal cardiometabolic status should be a primary goal in individuals with obesity, losing body weight and, particularly, excess visceral adiposity seems to be necessary to minimize the risk of cardiometabolic diseases.
... Even after society has evolved, it is troubling to see that beauty plays an important role in determining life and work outcomes (Judge et al., 2009). As Eaton et al., (1988) termed, we are 'stone agers in the fast lane'. An evolutionary lag exists; we are not adapted to the world we live in, and consequently, our psychological mechanisms make us behave in a manner that does not result in productive and meaningful outcomes (Barrett et al., 2002). ...
Article
The consequences of physical attractiveness (PA) are ubiquitous, however not often become a topic of discussion. The consequences, in general, are attributed to preference or discrimination without much deliberation. There is a very thin line between the two. The study makes an attempt to distinguish between preference and discrimination based on PA. In an organizational context, this distinction seems warranted since PA does impact work-related outcomes. The distinction was addressed by examining published studies between 1970 and 2021 on PA in the management and economics field of research. The study highlights when and how preference turns into discrimination and furthers discusses the causes of such discrimination. The causes are equivalent to antecedents; the antecedent to being physically attractive is mostly genes. The antecedents to the discrimination are the attributions that we have associated with being physically attractive. The study highlights these attributions and the reasons for these attributions. To completely understand a phenomenon, it is essential to understand what causes it. Therefore, this study tries to understand what causes discrimination based on PA. The study has implications for diversity and inclusion literature and practice. It also adds to the literature on PA.
... This hypothesis led to an increasing popularity of the Paleolithic diet pattern (hereafter referred to as the evolutionary-concordant diet pattern), estimated from archeological and paleontological evidence and studies of extant hunter-gatherer populations and characterised by high intakes of fruits, vegetables, lean meats and nuts and low intakes of grains, dairy products, refined fats and sugars and salt (3,4) . Other lifestyle behaviours that are more evolutionary concordant include high levels of physical activity, low levels of sedentary behaviour, limited alcohol consumption, energy balances that limit excess adiposity, not using tobacco and high social connectiveness (4)(5)(6) . ...
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Dietary and lifestyle evolutionary discordance is hypothesized to play a role in the etiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including coronary heart disease (CHD), and stroke. We aimed to investigate associations of a previously-reported, total (dietary plus lifestyle) evolutionary-concordance (EC) pattern score with incident CVD, CHD, and stroke. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression to investigate associations of the EC score with CVD, CHD, and stroke incidence among United States Black and White men and women ≥ 45 years old in the prospective REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study (2003–2017). The EC score comprised seven equally-weighted components: a previously-reported dietary EC score (using Block 98 food frequency questionnaire data) and six lifestyle characteristics (alcohol intake, physical activity, sedentary behavior, waist circumference, smoking history, and social network size). A higher score indicates a more evolutionary-concordant dietary/lifestyle pattern. Of the 15,467 participants in the analytic cohort without a CVD diagnosis at baseline, 1,563 were diagnosed with CVD (967 with CHD and 596 with stroke) during follow-up (median 11.0 years). Among participants in the highest relative to the lowest EC score quintile, the multivariable-adjusted hazards ratios and their 95% confidence intervals for CVD, CHD, and stroke were, respectively, 0.73 (0.62, 0.86; P trend < 0.001), 0.72 (0.59, 0.89; P trend < 0.001), and 0.76 (0.59, 0.98; P trend = 0.01). The results were similar by sex and race. Our findings support that a more evolutionary-concordant diet and lifestyle pattern may be associated with lower risk of CVD, CHD, and stroke.
... While it is indispensable for various biological functions, elevated levels of total cholesterol in blood cause a pathological condition termed hypercholesterolemia (5,6). Besides genetics, various lifestyle changes contribute to the risk of developing hypercholesterolemia, the most important being the high-cholesterol (HC) diet (7)(8)(9)(10). Complications associated with hypercholesterolemia include atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases, obesity, increased resistance to insulin, hypertension, and osteoporosis (11,12). ...
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Cholesterol is one of the essential intrauterine factors required for fetal growth and development. Maternal high cholesterol levels are known to be detrimental for offspring health. However, its long-term effect on offspring skeletal development remains to be elucidated. We performed our studies in two strains of mice (C57BL6/J and Swiss Albino) and human subjects (65 mother-female newborn dyads) to understand the regulation of offspring skeletal growth by maternal high cholesterol. We found that mice offspring from high cholesterol (HC) fed dams had a low birth weight, smaller body length, and delayed skeletal ossification at the E18.5 embryonic stage.Moreover we observed that the offspring did not recover from the reduced skeletal mass and exhibited a low bone mass phenotype throughout their life. We attributed this effect to reduced osteoblast cell activity with a concomitant increase in the osteoclast cell population. Our investigation of the molecular mechanism revealed that offspring from HC-fed dams had a decrease in the expression of ligands and proteins involved in hedgehog signaling. Further, our cross-sectional study of human subjects showed a significant inverse correlation between maternal blood cholesterol levels and cord blood bone formation markers. Moreover, the bone formation markers were significantly lower in the female newborns of hypercholesterolemic mothers compared to mothers with normal cholesterolemic levels. Together, our results suggest that maternal high cholesterol levels deleteriously program offspring bone mass and bone quality and downregulate the hedgehog signaling pathway in their osteoblasts.
... In contrast all NCDs together accounted for 71% of deaths globally in 2019 in the world according to 3 WHO. Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes (NIDD or Type 2 diabetes) is close to non-existent in hunter gatherer 4 populations and one study on eleven of these populations found a prevalence of only 1%. The high levels of daily physical activities in these communities contribute significantly to this. ...
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The essence of our editorial is in the title. We do not mean to imply that the glucose is not essential for thehuman body. Indeed, red blood cells can only utilize glucose as its fuel. The brain, which while having thecapacity to use ketone bodies, uses glucose as its primary source of energy. It is also correct that the humanbody has alternate mechanisms to manage glucose scarcity i.e. hypoglycemia, through glycogen degradationand gluconeogenesis in the liver and use of ketone bodies for energy in the brain, through protein and fatbreakdown, allowing the human body to survive without glucose. Therefore, reducing or omittingcarbohydrates in the diet, particularly refined carbohydrates like simple sugar and white flour, does not affectthe human body adversely. Our editorial is meant to highlight the detrimental impact of our contemporary diets overloaded withunhealthy carbohydrates, with high glycemic indexes (GI), that are leading to the alarming rise of noncommunicablediseases (NCDs) including obesity, diabetes, metabolic dysfunction and various inflammatoryconditions. These diets are low in unrefined carbohydrates, which are known to have a beneficial role throughtheir high fiber content and nutrients such as vitamins. Classically, the term “addiction” is used, with reference to alcohol or drugs, for conditions when individuals losecontrol over their desire to consume a substance, followed with an ever-increasing need to consume andcontinue to consume, despite negative consequence. However, the term is now used more broadly to include'routines; or 'behaviours' that are habitually performed to attain reward despite obvious negativeconsequences. The neurobiology of food addiction has been a focus of many studies in the last decade or so.Although studies have shown conflicting results in humans, there is evidence that high GI carbohydratesproduce neurochemical responses similar to addiction. Lennerz and Lennerz have comprehensively reviewedthe properties that make high GI carbohydrates a plausible trigger for food addiction that may contribute toobesity.1 The evidence from fossil records of hunter gatherers is limited in the information they can provide. However,archeological evidence along with studies on present-day hunter gatherer communities from different parts ofthe world provide some information of the health indicators in associated with this lifestyle.2 It has beenreported that less than 10% of deaths in individuals over 60 years is caused by chronic NCDs, in thesepopulations. The most common cause is infectious and gastrointestinal disease (70%) and followed by trauma(20%). In contrast all NCDs together accounted for 71% of deaths globally in 2019 in the world according toWHO.3 Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes (NIDD or Type 2 diabetes) is close to non-existent in hunter gathererpopulations and one study on eleven of these populations found a prevalence of only 1%.4 The high levels ofdaily physical activities in these communities contribute significantly to this. Many theories exist about thediets of the hunter gatherer populations which are varied and largely determined by their geography. Somecontain a significant proportion of carbohydrates in the form of honey, tubers, plantain etc as well as meat andgame. Both fossil records of the Paleolithic diet as well as recent hunter-gatherers reflect a dietary diversity inthese populations. We, again, reiterate that a balanced diet where sugar and starch is replaced by diverse nutrient-rich, organicand fiber-rich foods needs to be promoted. The aim of our editorial was not to promote one or the other diet,but to point out that our current diet, full of fast food and fizzy drinks, are putting the health and wellbeing ofour future generations at risk. Finally, we clarify that our editorial only covered one aspect of our lives, our diet, that affects our health. Besidesdiet, there are a multitude of factors that contribute to our health and wellbeing. As pointed out by ourcolleague, daily high levels of physical activity are protective against NCDs. In addition, our technology-drivensedentary lives associated with chronic social stress, economic disparities and dysfunctional family systems, alldirectly or indirectly contributing to an increase in NCDs, including metabolic disease and obesity, needcorrection. How to cite this: Majeed SMI, Mohyuddin A. Response to Shahzad A. Our Food: How we went wrong. Life and Science. 2022; 3(3): 143-144 .doi: http://doi.org/10.37185/LnS.1.1.264
... Ancak ideal bir yaşam kalitesi sağlandığında fiziksel aktivite için koşulların oluşabileceği bilinmektedir 20,21 . Fiziksel aktivite ile ilgili yayınlar 1980'lere kadar dayanmakla birlikte toplumlarda halen yeterli düzeyde fiziksel aktivite yapılmadığı belirlenmiştir 12,22 . Bununla birlikte her toplumun kendine özgü fiziksel aktivite rehberi oluşturduğu bilinmektedir. ...
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Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı, üniversite öğrencileri arasında fiziksel aktivite düzeyi, sedanter davranış ve sağlıkla ilgili yaşam kalitesi arasındaki ilişkinin araştırılmasıdır.Yöntem: Kesitsel tipte yapılan bu çalışmaya 200 üniversite öğrencisi katılmıştır. Katılımcıların %70,5’ i kadın; %29,5’ i ise erkek bireylerden oluşmaktadır. Çalışmada bireylerin fiziksel aktivite düzeylerini ölçmek için Uluslararası Fiziksel Aktivite Anketi (UFAA)-kısa form, Sağlıkla ilgili yaşam kalitelerini değerlendirmek için ise Nottingham Sağlık Profili (NSP) kullanılmıştır.Bulgular: Bireylerin toplam fiziksel aktivite ortalaması 2772,82±2791,92 MET-dk/Hafta olarak belirlendi. Fiziksel aktivite toplam değeri ile yaşam kalitesi toplam değeri (r= 0,176, p= 0,013) arasında pozitif yönde anlamlı ilişki bulundu. Oturma değeri ile yaşam kalitesi alt parametrelerinden emosyonel reaksiyon arasında pozitif yönde anlamlı ilişki (r= 0,147, P=0,038) bulunurken; ağrı ile oturma değeri arasında negatif yönde anlamlı ilişki (r= -0,145, p= 0,040) bulundu.Sonuç: Bu çalışmada sağlıkla ilgili yaşam kalitesi ile fiziksel aktivite, sedanter davranış ve ağrı faktörleri arasındaki ilişki vurgulanmıştır.
... As previously discussed, low diversity is one of the key microbiota patterns observed in women with PCOS, and has been positively associated with hyperandrogenism, total testosterone levels, and hirsutism in this population (267). Conversely, ecosystem diversity and richness are hallmarks of Hunter-gatherer microbiotas who consume a high-fibre, more diverse plantbased diet (255,268). A shift towards a more wholefood diet therefore provides a variety of phytonutrients, polyphenols and fibre, in addition to the other essential macronutrients and micronutrients, and is likely to make a significant difference to metabolic and symptomatic outcomes in women with PCOS. ...
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Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is increasingly recognized as a complex metabolic disorder that manifests in genetically susceptible women following a range of negative exposures to nutritional and environmental factors related to contemporary lifestyle. The hypothesis that PCOS phenotypes are derived from a mismatch between ancient genetic survival mechanisms and modern lifestyle practices is supported by a diversity of research findings. The proposed evolutionary model of the pathogenesis of PCOS incorporates evidence related to evolutionary theory, genetic studies, in-utero developmental epigenetic programming, transgenerational inheritance, metabolic features including insulin resistance, obesity and the apparent paradox of lean phenotypes, reproductive effects and subfertility, the impact of the microbiome and dysbiosis, endocrine disrupting chemical exposure, and the influence of lifestyle factors such as poor quality diet and physical inactivity. Based on these premises, the diverse lines of research are synthesized into a composite evolutionary model of the pathogenesis of PCOS. It is hoped that this model will assist clinicians and patients to understand the importance of lifestyle interventions in the prevention and management of PCOS and provide a conceptual framework for future research. It is appreciated that this theory represents a synthesis of the current evidence and that it is expected to evolve and change over time.
... Evolutionary mismatch theory maintains that traits that were adaptively selected for in the ancestral environments in which we evolved still exist within vastly different surroundings today (Li et al., 2018;Lloyd et al., 2011). As a result, our selected traits may adversely interact with elements of our current (evolutionarily novel) environmentgiving rise to health consequences such as obesity (Cordain et al., 2005;Eaton et al., 1988). In line with this notion, Allan and Allan (2013) found that a superior memory for high-calorie snack locations (versus that of lowcalorie fruits and vegetables) was associated with a higher BMI in womenan objective marker of long-term dietary intake and strong correlate of excess body fat mass (Bouchard, 2007). ...
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Human memory automatically prioritises locations of high-calorie foods, likely reflecting an adaptation for foraging in harsh ancestral food environments. We investigated whether this high-calorie bias in human spatial memory yields unhealthy obesogenic implications for individual eating behaviour in present-day food-abundant settings. In an online study, we tested the food spatial memory of a diverse sample of 405 individuals, as well as examined associations between the high-calorie spatial memory bias and the self-reported routine frequency of high-calorie snack consumption, exposure to high-calorie food environments, and BMI of a subset of 316 individuals. The high-calorie spatial memory bias was not directly associated with high-calorie snack consumption frequency or BMI. However, a greater expression of the bias indirectly predicted a higher BMI, by mediating a stronger habit of purchasing high-calorie snack foods. Although individuals from various sociodemographic groups expressed the high-calorie bias in spatial memory, our results suggest that those with a better inhibitory control to high-calorie foods were protected from bias-related tendencies to frequent high-calorie food environments (e.g. fast-food outlets).
... We expected that if individuals continue to house cognitive adaptations that are mismatched to existing evolutionary novel foodreplete conditions, obesogenic consequences on foraging-related behaviour could ensue (Eaton et al., 1988;Lieberman, 2006). We found that both objective and perceived search performance were moderately better for (savoury-tasting) high-calorie products than lowcalorie alternatives that were matched on spatial distributions within the supermarket. ...
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Human memory appears to be adaptively “biased” towards remembering the locations of (fitness-relevant) high-calorie nutritional resources. It remains to be investigated whether this high-calorie bias in human spatial memory influences how individuals navigate the modern food environment, and whether it is proximally associated with attentional processes. 60 individuals completed computer-based food eye-tracking and spatial memory tasks in a lab setting, as well as a food search and covert food choice task in an unfamiliar supermarket. The high-calorie spatial memory bias was replicated, as individuals more accurately recalled locations of high-calorie relative to low-calorie foods, regardless of hedonic evaluations or familiarity with foods. Although individuals were faster at (re)locating high-calorie (versus low-calorie) items in the supermarket, the bias did not predict a lower search time for high-calorie foods, or a higher proportion of high-calorie food choice. Rather, an enhanced memory for high-calorie food locations was associated with a lower perceived difficulty (i.e. greater ease) of finding high-calorie items in the supermarket, which may potentiate later choice of a high-calorie food. The high-calorie spatial memory bias was also found to be expressed independently of the amount of visual attention individuals allocated to high-calorie versus low-calorie foods. Findings further substantiate the notion that human spatial memory shows sensitivity to the caloric content of a potential resource and automatically prioritizes those with greater energy payoffs. Such a spatial mechanism that was adaptive for energy-efficient foraging within fluctuating ancestral food environments could presently yield maladaptive “obesogenic” consequences, through altering perceptions of food search convenience.
... This variant of the "mismatch" thesis repeats the proclamation of a discordance between the "ancient" body and "modern" life as a corruption of our (genetic) nature. It was reworked for a general audience in The Paleolithic Prescription (Shostak, Konner, and Eaton, 1988), and set the scene for the rise of Paleo body cultures in the new millennium, which included Loren Cordain's popular book The Paleo Diet (2002) and the internet fame of figureheads such as Robb Wolf. Spin-off diets like the Whole30, which further excludes "natural" sweeteners like maple syrup, contributed to Paleo's ascent. ...
Article
The widespread uptake of the Anthropocene concept over the past two decades has seen a concomitant rise in cultural forms that trade on nostalgia for Paleolithic life. Mud running, CrossFit, and the Paleo diet exemplify this trend, with the Paleolithic hunter-gatherer at the center of their popular prescriptions for healthy living. In this article, we identify these practices as embodying the anxieties of the Anthropocene as well as its historical and racial elisions. By focusing on the oblique and subtle racializations of Anthropocene health and fitness cultures, we contribute to understandings of the cultural significance of the human body in the Anthropocene and the relationship between the biopolitics of health and geological life, arguing that the body is a key site through which the tensions and inequalities of the Anthropocene are played out. And by unraveling how the Paleolithic imagination is rooted in a distinctly capitalist, Euro-American attitude to the body in nature, we show the Anthropocene to be defined by uneven distributions of health as self-optimization, and health as environmental risk. The Paleolithic imagination demonstrates the tangled politics of race, science, and nature in the twenty-first century, in which global ecological instability, the biopolitics of health, the shadows of colonialism, and consumer capitalism converge.
... Human motivational systems that regulate movement evolved in environments where subsistence required relatively demanding physical work and calorie-dense foods were relatively scarce (Eaton, Konner, & Shostak, 1988;Lieberman, 2015). The evolutionarily novel energetic conditions of many contemporary environments may lead to patterns of movement regulation that are not optimal for long-term cardiometabolic health (Eaton & Eaton, 2003). ...
Article
We describe a neural monitor of environmental and physiological resources that informs effort expenditure. Depending on resources and environmental stability, serotonergic and dopaminergic neuromodulations favor different behavioral controls that are organized in corticostriatal loops. This broader perspective produces some suggestions and questions that may not be covered by the foraging approach to vigor of Shadmehr and Ahmed (2020).
... The basis of pacing reaches back to a hunter-gatherer society, where hunters had to make effort/reward decisions when pursuing game [12]. This problem was shared by migrant groups and armies, with the challenge of achieving goals while avoiding exhaustion. ...
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During competitive events, the pacing strategy depends upon how an athlete feels at a specific moment and the distance remaining. It may be expressed as the Hazard Score (HS) with momentary HS being shown to provide a measure of the likelihood of changing power output (PO) within an event and summated HS as a marker of how difficult an event is likely to be perceived to be. This study aimed to manipulate time trial (TT) starting strategies to establish whether the summated HS, as opposed to momentary HS, will improve understanding of performance during a simulated cycling competition. Seven subjects (peak PO: 286 ± 49.7 W) performed two practice 10-km cycling TTs followed by three 10-km TTs with imposed PO (±5% of mean PO achieved during second practice TT and a self-paced TT). PO, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), lactate, heart rate (HR), HS, summated HS, session RPE (sRPE) were collected. Finishing time and mean PO for self-paced (time: 17.51 ± 1.41 min; PO: 234 ± 62.6 W), fast-start (time: 17.72 ± 1.87 min; PO: 230 ± 62.0 W), and slow-start (time: 17.77 ± 1.74 min; PO: 230 ± 62.7) TT were not different. There was a significant interaction between each secondary outcome variable (PO, RPE, lactate, HR, HS, and summated HS) for starting strategy and distance. The evolution of HS reflected the imposed starting strategy, with a reduction in PO following a fast-start, an increased PO following a slow-start with similar HS during the last part of all TTs. The summated HS was strongly correlated with the sRPE of the TTs (r = 0.88). The summated HS was higher with a fast start, indicating greater effort, with limited time advantage. Thus, the HS appears to regulate both PO within a TT, but also the overall impression of the difficulty of a TT.
... Among the poorest 80% of contemporary humanity, increasing income on average leads to increasing body weight (Hruschka et al., 2014)a finding that has been confirmed across the world's major regions (Hruschka, 2017). The positive correlation between economic resources and body size fits a simple model: more economic resources permit individuals to consume more calories and engage in less physical labour, thereby depositing more fat (Brown & Konner, 1987;Eaton et al., 1988;Hruschka 2012). However, in many high-income countries, the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and economic resources often reverses (Dinsa et al., 2012;Hruschka, 2017). ...
Article
In high-income countries, poverty is often associated with higher average body mass index (BMI). To account for this reverse gradient, deprivation theories posit that declining economic resources make it more difficult to maintain a healthy weight. By contrast, discrimination theories argue that anti-fat discrimination in hiring and marriage sorts heavier individuals into lower-income households. This study assesses competing predictions of these theories by examining how household income in representative samples from South Korea (2007–2014, N =20,823) and the US (1999–2014, N =6395) is related to BMI in two key contrasting groups: (1) currently-married and (2) never-married individuals. As expected by anti-fat discrimination in marriage, the reverse gradient is observed among currently-married women but not among never-married women in both countries. Also consistent with past studies no evidence was found for a reverse gradient among men. These findings are consistent with anti-fat discrimination in marriage as a key cause of the reverse gradient and raise serious challenges to deprivation accounts as well as explanations based on anti-fat discrimination in labour markets.
... However, the crucial question is why these lifestyle factors are causative for the hormonal and metabolic disturbances that increase the risk for breast cancer. A natural explanation arises within a systemic and evolutionary theory in which "modern" lifestyle factors pose a chronic mismatch to the historical evolutionary adaptions that shaped the human physiology [11][12][13][14][15][16]. Within this evolutionary context, special attention has been given to the mismatch between ancestral, or "Paleolithic", and modern diets and its role in cancer development [17][18][19][20]. ...
Article
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Evolutionary principles are rarely considered in clinical oncology. We here aimed to test the feasibility and effects of a dietary and physical activity intervention based on evolutionary considerations in an oncological setting. A total of 13 breast cancer patients referred to our clinic for curative radiotherapy were recruited for this pilot study. The women were supposed to undertake a "Paleolithic lifestyle" (PL) intervention consisting of a Paleolithic diet and daily outdoor activity of at least 30 min duration while undergoing radiotherapy. Body composition was measured weekly by bioimpedance analysis. Blood parameters were assessed before, during, and at the end of radiotherapy. A control group on an unspecified standard diet (SD) was assigned by propensity score matching. A total of eleven patients completed the study. The majority of patients (64%) reported feeling good or very good during the intervention. The intervention group experienced an average decrease of 0.4 kg body weight (p < 0.001) and 0.34 kg (p < 0.001) fat mass per week, but fat-free and skeletal muscle mass were not significantly affected. Vitamin D levels increased slightly from 23.8 (11-37.3) ng/ml to 25.1 (22.6-41.6) ng/ml (p = 0.053). β-hydroxybutyrate levels were significantly increased and triglycerides and free T3 hormone levels significantly reduced by the PL intervention. This pilot study shows that adoption of a PL intervention during curative radiotherapy of breast cancer patients is feasible and able to reduce fat mass. Daily outdoor activity could eliminate vitamin D deficiency (vitamin D < 20 ng/ml). Future studies are needed to confirm these findings.
... The evolutionary genetic mismatch would explain the rise in NCD in contemporary populations as a result of our genetically based physiology, adapted to a Paleolithic hunter-gatherer lifestyle, in an unmatched environment characterized by current dietary and physical patterns. Within this framework, it is hypothesized that post-nutrition transition populations that adopted agriculture early in their history would be at lower risk of NCD due to dietary adaptations reducing the evolutionary genetic mismatch compared with populations that transitioned over just a few generations from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a Western dietary pattern high in refined carbohydrates and saturated fats (18)(19)(20)(21). ...
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Background: Over the past several decades, rural and indigenous populations in Latin America have experienced abrupt and profound transformations in their lifestyles and economies, many having remarkable health consequences. Yet, these changes have had heterogenous effects on the population's biology in different local contexts. Objective: The primary goal was to characterize the nutrition transition and NCD (non-communicable diseases) risk biomarkers among two Chilean indigenous populations that have had divergent histories of subsistence strategies (agropastoralism vs. hunter-gathering) in the last few millennia and live in contrasting environments, and to identify context-specific factors driving the nutrition and epidemiological transitions. Methods: One-hundred-and-ninety (90 Pehuenche and 100 Atacameño) participants aged 18–87 years completed demographic, food-frequency and physical activity questionnaires as well as measurements of some NCD risk biomarkers: blood pressure, weight, height, body-fat percentage, waist-circumference, and blood total-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose. Framingham Risk Scores (FRS) were calculated based on age, sex, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, smoking, diabetes status, and hypertension medication. Results: Few differences in dietary composition and physical activity patterns were observed between the two populations. Multivariate analyses show no differences between the two populations in any of the individual NCD risk biomarkers or FRS after adjusting for age, sex, time since last meal, food insecurity in childhood, ultra-processed food consumption, and physical activity. Conclusions: Despite contrasting ecological and historical contexts, the two groups are converging into similar processes of market and wage-labor integration and transitioning to a Western diet high in processed and non-local foods, although some aspects of their ‘traditional’ foodways are still in practice. The frequency of individuals exhibiting NCD biomarkers ‘at-risk’ is relatively high and corresponds to other populations that have gone through nutrition transition. Furthermore, none of these biomarkers or FRS differed between the two populations, suggesting a homogenization in the NCD risk factors.
... La comprensión de los médicos de que las enfermedades genéticas contemporáneas y las condiciones humanas pueden representar adaptaciones a entornos pasados -y por ende la falta de armonía con la dieta actual y las condiciones de vida-ayudan a explicar la persistencia de las enfermedades frente a un saneamiento mejorado y los niveles de vida. La hipótesis de falta de coincidencia ha sugerido una causa para los tipos modernos de obesidad, enfermedades cardiacas, diabetes tipo-2, cáncer de mama y de próstata, el bocio, la deficiencia de yodo, defectos de nacimiento y el envejecimiento (Harper, 1975;Eaton et al., 1988;Williams y Nesse, 1991;Greaves, 2002;Diamond, 2003;Swynghedauw, 2004;Gluckman et al., 2008). El ver las enfermedades como un desafortunado legado genético heredado del pasado puede aliviar el dolor para algunos pacientes. ...
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Background The relationship between atherogenic lipoproteins and subclinical coronary atherosclerosis has not been thoroughly evaluated in low-risk adults. Objectives The purpose of this study was to assess the association of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and apolipoprotein B (apoB) with coronary atherosclerosis in adults without traditional risk factors. Methods We assessed atherosclerosis on coronary computed tomography angiography among asymptomatic adults in the Miami Heart Study not taking lipid-lowering therapy and without hypertension, diabetes, or active tobacco use. Prevalence of atherosclerosis was evaluated based on serum LDL-C, non-HDL-C, and apoB, and multivariable logistic regression with forward selection was used to assess variables associated with coronary plaque. Results Among 1,033 adults 40 to 65 years of age, 55.0% were women and 86.3% had estimated 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk <5%. Coronary atherosclerosis prevalence was 35.9% (50.6% in men; 23.8% in women) and 3.4% had ≥1 high-risk plaque feature. Atherosclerosis prevalence increased with LDL-C, ranging from 13.2% in adults with LDL-C <70 mg/dL up to 48.2% with ≥160 mg/dL. Higher LDL-C (adjusted OR [aOR]: 1.13 [95% CI: 1.08-1.18] per 10 mg/dL), age (aOR: 1.43 [95% CI: 1.28-1.60] per 5 years), male sex (aOR: 3.81 [95% CI: 2.86-5.10]), and elevated lipoprotein(a) (aOR: 1.46 [95% CI: 1.01-2.09]) were associated with atherosclerosis. Higher serum non-HDL-C and apoB were similarly associated with atherosclerosis. In adults with optimal risk factors, 21.2% had atherosclerosis with greater prevalence at higher lipoprotein levels. Conclusions Among asymptomatic middle-aged adults without traditional risk factors, coronary atherosclerosis is common and increasingly prevalent at higher levels of atherogenic lipoproteins. These findings emphasize the importance of lipid-lowering strategies to prevent development and progression of atherosclerosis regardless of risk factors.
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Walking, cycling and micromobility are key to decreasing transport emissions and improving wellbeing. Reliance on single occupancy vehicles for daily transport has improved access to many services for many people but is also linked to increasing physical inactivity and is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in our urban centres. There is extensive research on what ways best promote active transport in the fields of urban design, transport safety and behaviour sciences. However, the link between law and the promotion of active transport behaviour has yet to be investigated. Using methods based on public health law research, a legal mapping study has been undertaken that compares the law that promotes active travel between four cities in separate nations. Through the legal method of systematic content analysis, the respective city, state and national legislation of the four cities of Auckland, Canberra, Cardiff and Chicago were collected, and an analysis was undertaken with an adapted RAMPARTs framework and the PASTA conceptual framework of active travel behaviour. Results show a significant variation between cities and nations on how the legal strategies of Awareness, Funding, Incentive, Standards, Authorisation, Prohibition and Exemption are used to promote active transport. Each city and nation had a unique way of promoting active transport through the law. Yet, New Zealand was found to have significantly fewer comprehensive laws over all areas promoting cycling. These findings have implications for understanding Auckland's current gaps in active transport legislation and how learnings from other nations' examples of legislation can be used to achieve current emission goals and improve wellbeing within Auckland and New Zealand.
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Background: Evolutionary medicine builds on evolutionary biology and explains why natural selection has left us vulnerable to disease. Unfortunately, several misunderstandings exist in the medical literature about the levels and mechanisms of evolution. Reasons for these problems start from the lack of teaching evolutionary biology in medical schools. A common mistake is to assume that “traits must benefit the species, as otherwise the species would have gone extinct in the past” confusing evolutionary history (phylogeny) with evolutionary function (fitness). Summary: Here we summarise some basic aspects of evolutionary medicine by pointing out: (1) Evolution has no aim. (2) For adaptive evolution to occur, a trait does not have to be beneficial to its carrier throughout its entire life. (3) Not every single individual carrying an adaptive trait needs to have higher than average fitness. (4) Traits do not evolve for the benefit of the species. Using examples from the field of neuroimmunomodulation like sickness behaviour (nervous system), testosterone (hormones), and cytokines (immunity), we show how misconceptions arise from not differentiating between the explanatory categories of phylogeny (evolutionary history) and evolutionary function (fitness). Key Messages: Evolution has no aim but is an automatism that does not function for the benefit of the species. In evolution, successful individuals are those that maximise the transmission of their genes, and health and survival are just strategies to have the opportunity to do so. Thus, a trait enabling survival of the individual until reproductive age will spread even if at later age the same trait leads to disease and death. Natural and sexual selection do not select for traits that benefit the health or happiness of the individual, but for traits that increase inclusive fitness even if this increases human suffering. In contrast, our humane aim is to increase individual well-being. Evolutionary medicine can help us achieve this aim against evolutionary constraints.
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Medicine is grounded in the natural sciences, among which biology stands out with regard to the understanding of human physiology and conditions that cause dysfunction. Ironically, evolutionary biology is a relatively disregarded field. One reason for this omission is that evolution is deemed a slow process. Indeed, macroanatomical features of our species have changed very little in the last 300,000 years. A more detailed look, however, reveals that novel ecological contingencies, partly in relation to cultural evolution, have brought about subtle changes pertaining to metabolism and immunology, including adaptations to dietary innovations, as well as adaptations to exposure to novel pathogens. Rapid pathogen evolution and evolution of cancer cells cause major problems for the immune system to find adequate responses. Moreover, many adaptations to past ecologies have turned into risk factors for somatic disease and psychological disorder in our modern world (i.e. mismatch), among which epidemics of autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, as well as several forms of cancer stand out. In addition, depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric conditions add to the list. The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Medicine is a compilation of up-to-date insights into the evolutionary history of ourselves as a species, and how and why our evolved design may convey vulnerability to disease. Written in a classic textbook style, emphasising the physiology and pathophysiology of all major organ systems, the book addresses students as well as scholars in the fields of medicine, biology, anthropology, and psychology.
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Please visit: www.ijcnworld.com International Journal of Clinical Nutrition has ISSN from Canada for Open Access version. Articles are invited for free Open Access publishing in the volumes from 2011 to 2019. Marginal fee for issues 2020,2021 is US$100.00 each article 3000 words
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Buku ini mengajak para pembacanya untuk lebih bijaksana dalam memilih model diet (pola makan) yang banyak “ditawarkan” secara menarik, unik, menjanjikan keuntungan, kebugaran, dan kesehatan. Tidak sedikit tawaran model diet yang memiliki dasar dan bukti-bukti ilmiah yang kuat, namun lebih banyak yang didasari atas kepentingan bisnis dan keuntungan ekonomi jangka pendek semata. Para pembaca awam di bidang sains (biomedis) yang terkait dengan diet dan golongan darah mungkin sulit menemukan bacaan yang ditulis dengan bahasa populer, namun tetap menyajikan prinsip dan kaidah ilmiah.
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