Human Evolution and Nutrition Transitions

Question 1

What anatomical changes occurred during human evolution related to nutrition transitions?

Answer 1

Changes in bipedalism, brain size, and dentition (teeth) due to dietary shifts over time.

bipedalism: the habit of standing and walking on two feet

Question 2

What is the Paleolithic Prescription?

Answer 2

A diet and lifestyle modeled on the presumed habits of early humans, emphasizing whole foods, lean meats, and physical activity.

Question 3

What were the dietary shifts during the agricultural transition?

Answer 3

The shift from a varied hunter-gatherer diet to one dominated by domesticated crops like wheat, rice, and maize.

Question 4

What are skeletal markers, and what can they tell us?

Answer 4

Signs on bones that provide clues about health and diet, such as porotic hyperostosis and enamel hypoplasia.

Question 5

What is porotic hyperostosis?

Answer 5

A condition where the skull shows sponge-like bone growth due to anemia.

Question 6

What is cribra orbitalia?

Answer 6

Porous bone growth in the eye sockets, often caused by iron deficiency anemia.

Question 7

What is monocropping

Answer 7

The agricultural practice of growing a single crop year after year, which can lead to decreased soil fertility and crop vulnerability

Question 8

What are the costs of agriculture?

Answer 8

• Reduced dietary diversity
• increased disease burden
• environmental impacts

Question 9

What is enamel hypoplasia?

Answer 9

A defect in tooth enamel caused by malnutrition or illness during childhood.

Question 10

What is lactase persistence?

Answer 10

The continued ability to digest lactose (milk sugar) into adulthood, common in populations with a long history of dairy farming.

Question 11

What is diabetes?

Answer 11

Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disease characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose (sugar)

Question 12

Three types of diabetes

Answer 12

• type 1: insulin dependent
• type 2 : noninsulin dependent
• Gestational diabetes

Question 13

What is insulin

Answer 13

• hormone produced by the pancreas
• allows body’s cells to use glucose

Question 14

Type I diabetes

Answer 14

• Requires daily administration of insulin
• Cause is not known and it is not preventable
• Symptoms - excessive urination, thirst, constant hunger, weight loss, vision changes and fatigue
• No insulin signal
• Caused by reduced insulin production

Question 15

Type II Diabetes

Answer 15

• Comprises 90% of people with diabetes around the world (1 out of 7 in US are at risk)
• Symptoms similar to Type 1 diabetes, but are often less marked as a result, it often goes undiagnosed for years.
• Until recently, only in adults but it is now also occurring in children
• No response/insulin resistance
• Caused by repeated insulin stimulation (e.g. high glucose diet), or in response to reduced cellular need (e.g. physical inactivity)

Question 16

Non-diabetic Response

Answer 16

Insulin is released into the bloodstream and attaches to cell receptors which signals cells to absorb
sugar from the bloodstream

Question 17

Genotype

Answer 17

Heritable information (genes) carried by an indiviudal

Question 19

Phenotype

Answer 19

Expression of the interaction between genotype and environment

Question 20

Phenotypic plasticity

Answer 20

Ability to adjust somatic,behavioral, or physiological traits in response to interaction with
the environment

Question 21

Double Burden of Malnutrition

Answer 21

1. Coexistence of undernutrition and overweight/obesity
2. Occurs within individuals, households, and populations
3. Associated with changing patterns of disease

Question 22

Thrifty phenotype hypothesis

Answer 22

explains how poor nutrition during fetal development and early life can affect a person’s health later on.

not enough nutrients=body adapts, more efficient at using/storing energy

Question 23

Evidence for the Thrifty Phenotype Hypothesis

Answer 23

Low birth weight increases the risk of CVD, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, especially in populations transitioning to Western, high-calorie diets.

Question 24

What explains the worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes?

Answer 24

• Shift to Western diets
• Sedentary lifestyles
• Fetal programming: mismatch between womb and later environment causes metabolic changes
• Developing countries face undernutrition and overnutrition (double burden)