Over the last twenty years, the evolution of human nutritional requirements has received ever-greater attention among both anthropologists and nutritional scientists (Crawford 1992; Eaton and Konner 1985; Garn and Leonard 1989; Leonard and Robertson 1992, 1994; Aiello and Wheeler 1995; Cordain et al. 2005; Ungar 2007). Research in nutritional anthropology has demonstrated that many of the key features that distinguish humans from other primates have important implications for our distinctive nutritional needs (Leonard 2002; Leonard and Robertson 1997b; Aiello and Wheeler 1995). In addition, our colleagues in the nutritional sciences are coming to realize that an evolutionary perspective is useful...

The survival of a stable human community requires not only successful reproduction of the next generation, but also the survival of those offspring to reproductive age. For many millennia, human ancestral communities were comprised of direct-return hunter-gatherers, sometimes also called hunter-collector-fishers, henceforth referred to here as foragers. Those foragers not only survived, but gradually became more numerous. This suggests that childhood was survivable, but can we say anything more specific about its nature?

Characteristics of foraging band societies include reliance on mobility, low population density, exploitation of seasonal food resources, and little access to food storage. Taken together, these factors...

This chapter calls for a reconsideration of the central importance of both physiological and behavioral strategies for feeding infants and young children during human evolution and their implications for the health of mothers and babies in contemporary societies. It develops a hypothesis that the evolutionary biology of human lactation and the evolutionary ecology of complementary feeding contribute to contemporary challenges in maternal and child nutrition and health. Evolutionary anthropological and ethnographic studies are used to develop a general conceptual framework for understanding prehistoric, historic, and contemporary variation in infant and young child feeding patterns. Let us begin our discussion of...

The reconstruction of infant¹ and young child feeding (IYCF) patterns can provide valuable information in the quest for understanding the behaviors of past populations. How a population treats its very young and the cultural ideologies regarding IYCF practices can be a key determinant of infant and child survival and this factor can heavily influence overall population growth or decline (Delgado et al. 1982; Stuart-Macadam and Dettwyler 1995; Lewis 2007). Therefore, the study of IYCF practices in past populations is recognized as a significant component in the reconstruction of population demography (Herring et al. 1998). Although there have been a few...

Despite widespread scholarly interest in infant feeding practices, there are few long-term quantitative studies on the subject at the national or community-based level (see, for example, Martinez and Nalezienski 1981; Kinter 1985; McNally, Henericks, and Horowitz 1985; Liestøl, Rosenberg, and Walløe 1988; Siskind, Del Mar, and Schofield 1993; Ryan 1997). Reasons for the paucity of studies are complex, but some factors include: (1) lack of availability of medical and survey-based data on infant feeding, (2) the issue of deconstructing variation existing within and between complex social units at the local and national level, and (3) most importantly, a focus on...

In this chapter, we examine issues of dietary diversity and food transitions in Nepal. In particular, we ask how the move from a rural to urban environment might influence the diversity of children’s diets. Although there are numerous circumstances under which rural Nepalis might move to urban settings and urban forms of employment, we focus specifically on the diets of the children of economically marginalized carpet factory workers. In doing so, our discussion is both substantive and speculative. We engage with Dietary Diversity Scores (DDS) as part of a methodology to assess nutrition, food practices, and the practicalities of dietary...

Food insecurity, poverty, and risks to health are clearly political and economic issues requiring top-level intervention. An important question is whether intervention efforts launched by humanitarian or governmental structures articulate effectively with the grassroots strategies developed by local communities to face acute, chronic, or acute-upon-chronic food shortages. In addressing food crises and/or chronic poverty, humanitarian agencies, central governments, local communities, and individual households may work towards the same critical aims—to protect lives and livelihoods—yet operate within different sets of constraints, worldviews, and expectations. For instance, humanitarian agencies have a mandate to step up all efforts in order to...

Studies of childhood growth and development in past populations have explained observed patterns of growth faltering, morbidity, and mortality as the result of complex interactions between nutrition and infection (e.g., Hummert and Van Gerven 1983; Goodman et al. 1984; Owsley and Jantz 1985; Mensforth 1985; Lovejoy, Russell, and Harrison 1990; Lewis 2002). It is also recognized that some variables influencing growth and development may not be visible in the skeletal record, such as chronic diarrhea and acute respiratory infections (King and Ulizjaszek 1999). Childhood morbidity and mortality has traditionally been used as an indicator of the overall adaptation of a...

Osteoporosis is a growing health concern in the aging populations of developed countries, with a recent count of 75 million people affected in Europe, the United States, and Japan (EFFO and NOF 1997). It is estimated that one in three women and one in four men over age fifty will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in her/his remaining lifetime (NOF 2005; Johnell and Kanis 2006). Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease characterized by a reduction in bone mass and a deterioration of the microstructure of bone tissue, with a consequent increase in bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture. Age-related bone loss...

Contemporary Western society places a premium on efficiency, and efforts to maximize efficiency have proliferated to virtually all aspects of our lives. For example, a large fraction of the technological devices that are marketed to North Americans are related in one way or another to making life “easier.” The invention and uptake of remote controls, escalators, moving sidewalks, cell phones, computers, and other time-saving devices has largely engineered physical activity out of our lives. This drive towards a sedentary existence, coupled with an environment where affordable, energy-dense diets prevail, has led to a society in which it is more normal...