The Evolutionary Biology of Human Body Fatness

Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-1-108-82259-6
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 58, 394 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 572 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology

This comprehensive synthesis of current medical and evolutionary literature addresses key questions about the role body fat plays in human biology. It explores how body energy stores are regulated, how they develop over the life-course, what biological functions they serve, and how they may have evolved. There is now substantial evidence that human adiposity is not merely a buffer against the threat of starvation, but is also a resource for meeting the energy costs of growth, reproduction and immune function. As such it may be considered as important in our species evolution as other traits such as bipedalism, large brains, and long life spans and developmental periods. Indeed, adiposity is integrally linked with these other traits, and with our capacity to colonise and inhabit diverse ecosystems. It is because human metabolism is so sensitive to environmental cues that manipulative economic forces are now generating the current obesity epidemic.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wells, Jonathan C. K

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Evolutionsbiologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Humanbiologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophische Anthropologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction; 2. Human fatness in broad context; 3. The proximate causes of fat deposition; 4. The ontogenetic development of adiposity; 5. The life-course induction of adiposity; 6. The fitness value of fat; 7. The evolutionary biology of adipose tissue; 8. Adiposity in hominid evolution; 9. Adiposity in human evolution; 10. The evolution of obesity.

Über Autor(innen)

Wells, Jonathan C. K
Jonathan C. K. Wells is a Reader in Pediatric Nutrition at the University College London (UCL) Institute of Child Health. He conducts research on pediatric energetics and body composition, using anthropological and evolutionary approaches to inform biological understanding.