The Arc of Life: Evolution and Health Across the Life Course

201 Pages·2017·3.29 MB·English

by  Grazyna Jasienska

Grazyna Jasienska · Diana S. Sherry
Donna J. Holmes Editors
The Arc of
Life
Evolution and Health Across the Life
Course
The Arc of Life
Grazyna Jasienska • Diana S. Sherry
Donna J. Holmes
Editors
The Arc of Life
Evolution and Health Across the Life Course
Editors
Grazyna Jasienska Diana S. Sherry
Department of Environmental Health School of Communication
Jagiellonian University Medical College Institute of Liberal Arts
Krakow, Poland and Interdisciplinary Studies
Emerson College
Donna J. Holmes Boston, MA, USA
Department of Biological Sciences and
Department of Human Evolutionary
WWAMI Medical Education Program
Biology
University of Idaho
Harvard University
Moscow, ID, USA
Cambridge, MA, USA
ISBN 978-1-4939-4036-3 ISBN 978-1-4939-4038-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-4038-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016957712
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017
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Contents
1 Introduction: Evolutionary Medicine and Life History Theory . . . . . . . . 1
Donna J. Holmes and Grazyna Jasienska
2 Intergenerational Memories of Past Nutritional Deprivation:
The Phenotypic Inertia Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Christopher W. Kuzawa and Ruby L. Fried
3 Modeling Developmental Plasticity in Human Growth:
Buffering the Past or Predicting the Future? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Jonathan C.K. Wells and Rufus A. Johnstone
4 Development of Human Sociosexual Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Peter B. Gray and Matthew H. McIntyre
5 Evolutionary Perspectives on Teen Motherhood:
How Young Is Too Young? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Karen L. Kramer
6 Health, Evolution, and Reproductive Strategies in Men:
New Hypotheses and Directions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Richard G. Bribiescas and Erin E. Burke
7 Immunity, Hormones, and Life History Trade-Offs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Michael P. Muehlenbein, Sean P. Prall, and Hidemi Nagao Peck
8 Thyroid Disorders at Midlife: An Evolutionary Perspective . . . . . . . . 121
Lynnette Leidy Sievert
9 W omen’s Health in the Post-menopausal Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Donna J. Holmes
v
vi Contents
10 Costs of Reproduction, Health, and Life Span in Women . . . . . . . . . . 159
Grazyna Jasienska
11 From Novel to Extreme: Contemporary Environments
and Physiologic Dysfunction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Diana S. Sherry
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Contributors
Richard G. Bribiescas Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven,
CT, USA
Erin E. Burke Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT,
USA
Hidemi Nagao Peck Department of Anthropology, Indiana University Bloomington,
Bloomington, IN, USA
Ruby L. Fried Department of Anthropology, Institute for Policy Research,
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
Peter B. Gray Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas,
NV, USA
Donna J. Holmes Department of Biological Sciences and WWAMI Medical
Education Program, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA
Grazyna Jasienska Department of Environmental Health, Jagiellonian University
Medical College, Krakow, Poland
Rufus A. Johnstone Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge,
UK
Karen L. Kramer Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake
City, UT, USA
Christopher W. Kuzawa Department of Anthropology, Institute for Policy
Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
Matthew H. McIntyre Department of Anthropology, University of Central
Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Michael P. Muehlenbein Department of Anthropology, Indiana University
Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA
vii
viii Contributors
Sean P. Prall Department of Anthropology, Indiana University Bloomington,
Bloomington, IN, USA
Diana S. Sherry School of Communication, Institute of Liberal Arts and
Interdisciplinary Studies, Emerson College, Boston, MA, USA
Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge,
MA, USA
Lynnette Leidy Sievert Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts
Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA
Jonathan Wells Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, UCL Institute of Child
Health, London, UK
Chapter 1
Introduction: Evolutionary Medicine and Life
History Theory
Donna J. Holmes and Grazyna Jasienska
Abstract Evolutionary medicine is a developing specialty in the biological sciences.
Modern Darwinian theory posits that natural selection shapes variation in anatomy,
physiology, genetics, and behavior. In this volume, we examine human health across
the life span with a primary focus on life history theory - an analytical framework
for understanding how organisms allocate resources to maximize reproductive suc-
cess. From the standpoint of life history theory, individuals face genetic and physi-
ological trade-offs to optimize investment in reproductive and other priorities at
different stages of the life course. Trade-offs can be reflected in variation in nutri-
tional and social status, fertility, disease risk, mortality - and other parameters con-
ventionally thought of as “health” variables. In evolutionary terms, reproduction is
the most important capacity organisms possess, since it is the means for passing
genes on to the next generation. For long-lived primates, like humans, adaption to a
given environment is reflected in the number of healthy, potentially reproductive
offspring produced. Reproduction is costly, and timing of reproduction can have
major effects on the health and mortality of both sexes over the life course. This
volume brings together intellectual perspectives of biological anthropologists and
evolutionary biologists from developmental biology, reproductive ecology and
physiology, demography, immunology, and the biology of aging. Our aim is to
showcase diverse ways in which emerging styles of evolutionary analysis can enrich
our perspectives on medicine and public health. In this first chapter, we introduce
basic concepts from human evolutionary biology and bioanthropology that are used
throughout the volume.
To Peter T. Ellison: with appreciation from colleagues, collaborators, and former students
D.J. Holmes (*)
Department of Biological Sciences and WWAMI Medical Education Program, University of
Idaho, MS 3051, Moscow, ID, 83844-3051, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
G. Jasienska
Department of Environmental Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College,
Grzegorzecka 20, 31-531 Krakow, Poland
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017 1
G. Jasienska et al. (eds.), The Arc of Life, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-4038-7_1
2 D.J. Holmes and G. Jasienska
1.1 Introduction
Evolutionary medicine and evolutionary public health are rapidly developing areas
of biological science. (Williams and Nesse 1991; Nesse and Williams 1996; Stearns
and Koella 2008; Jasienska 2013; Stearns and Medzhitov 2015) Although the term
“Darwinian medicine” (later replaced by “evolutionary medicine”) was first pro-
posed in 1991 by George Williams and Randolph Nesse, an evolutionary approach
to human health began much earlier in the history of science. Charles Darwin’s
grandfather, Erasmus, is cited as one of the first physicians to propose in the eigh-
teenth century a connection between nature and human health. Trevathan and col-
leagues (1999) have provided an excellent review of the history of evolutionary
medicine.
Long before the field of evolutionary medicine became recognized, many human
biologists and biological anthropologists based their ideas and explanations of
research findings on the principles of evolutionary theory (Ellison 2003). One of the
most dominant avenues of research in the field of human biology has been the study
of human variation and an emphasis on the richness of differences in anatomy,
physiology, genetics, and behavior among individuals. These differences are not
classified as either “normal” or “pathological” as they are in the medical field, but
instead are viewed as the result of evolutionary processes.
The Arc of Life Evolution and Health over the Life Course showcases ways in which

research conducted by biological anthropologists can enrich our understanding of
variation in human health. This book looks at human health from the evolutionary
perspective with particular focus on life history theory (Stearns 1992). (Roff 2002)
Life history theory, a part of evolutionary theory, provides an explanatory framework
for understanding how organisms allocate their time and energy in ways that maxi-
mize reproductive success. Given that resources are limited, individuals face trade-
offs in terms of allocating resources to different stages of the life course, such as
when to enter the stage of reproductive maturation or embark upon the first birth. The
Arc of Life examines the consequences of life history trade-offs, a fundamental prin-
ciple of evolutionary biology, on various aspects of human health in both sexes across
the life cycle.
1.2 Brief Overview of Life History Theory
In evolutionary terms, the ability to reproduce is the most important capacity living
organisms possess, allowing for passing genes on to the next generations. For ani-
mals that reproduce more than once, like many mammals, reproductive effort
involves investment in multiple breeding episodes over the life course. For long-
lived primates, like humans, successful adaption to a given set of environmental
circumstances is measured in terms of lifetime reproductive success or the number