Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Human fatness in broad context
- 3 Proximate causes of lipid deposition and oxidation
- 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 hominin evolution
- 9 Adiposity in human evolution
- 10 The evolution of human obesity
- References
- Index
10 - The evolution of human obesity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Human fatness in broad context
- 3 Proximate causes of lipid deposition and oxidation
- 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 hominin evolution
- 9 Adiposity in human evolution
- 10 The evolution of human obesity
- References
- Index
Summary
As stated earlier, this book was not intended to be about obesity. Nevertheless, much of the interest now directed to human body fat derives from biomedical interest in elucidating the causes and consequences of excess body fat. What can an evolutionary perspective contribute to this issue?
Chapters 6 considered a variety of beneficial functions fulfilled by adipose tissue in human biology, whereas Chapters 7 to 9 explored possible selective pressures that may have impacted on adipose tissue and other traits during hominin and human evolution. Historically, a suite of traits has been considered fundamental to human evolution. These traits include bipedalism, encephalisation, manual dexterity, culture and language. More recent perspectives have emphasised the importance of human life history – our slow pattern of growth and our unusual pattern of parental care (Bogin 2001). I would suggest that body fat is no less important than these other traits, and indeed it is integrally related to several of them. On the one hand, energy reserves have played a key role in buffering biological functions from fluctuations in energy supply. This has been particularly important in relation to the large human brain, and potentially to our colonising reproductive strategy. On the other hand, energy reserves are more than simply a fuel depot; they contribute to the regulation of these functions including life history variability.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Evolutionary Biology of Human Body FatnessThrift and Control, pp. 270 - 301Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009