El Niño adversely affected childhood stature and lean mass in northern Peru

Danysh, Heather E.; Gilman, Robert H.; Wells, Jonathan C. K.; Pan, William; Zaitchik, Benjamin F.; Gonzálvez, Guillermo; Álvarez, María Inés Ortíz; Checkley, William

doi:10.1186/s40665-014-0007-z

Cited by 26 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Our analyses suggest that such selective pressures may extend to humans, and our findings have relevance to contemporary concerns over climate change, which may impact plastic components of body composition in similar ways. For example, short‐term shocks such as droughts reduce child growth in sub‐Saharan Africa (Hoddinott & Kinsey, ), while children born around the time of ENSO floods in northwest Peru had reduced height and lean mass compared to unexposed peers, but similar fat mass (Danysh et al, ). In less extreme circumstances, however, precipitation before and after birth was positively associated with childhood growth in Uganda and Nepal (Shively, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Bergmann's rule: Global variability in human body composition is associated with annual average precipitation and annual temperature volatility

Wells

Saunders

Lea

et al. 2019

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives: Human populations exhibit substantial geographical variability in body size and shape. However, the ecological stresses underlying this morphological variability remain poorly understood. The prevailing evolutionary explanation, "Bergmann's rule" assumes that morphological variability represents an adaptive response to average thermal conditions. We hypothesized that other climate factors-annual average precipitation, a marker of ecological productivity and inter-annual temperature volatility, a marker of infectious disease spikes-may also contribute to variability in body composition. Materials and Methods:We explored this hypothesis by examining associations between these climate factors and geographic variability in body composition across 133 male and 105 female populations from nonindustrialized settings. We used monthly climate data over 113 years to develop new climate indices for all worldwide land areas. We stratified our analyses by hot/cold setting (>/<20 C).Results: In hot environments, lean mass increased as predicted in association with ecological productivity, and decreased in association with ecological volatility. Conversely, levels of body fat increased in association with temperature volatility and precipitation. However, in cold settings, equivalent associations were only partially consistent with our hypotheses, and there was suggestive evidence of sex differences in these associations.Discussion: Beyond associations with mean annual temperature predicted by Bergmann's rule, variability in human body composition is also associated with mean annual temperature and inter-annual temperature volatility, with these associations further differing between hot and cold settings. Collectively, our results suggest that associations of human body composition with climate are complex for both physique (fat-free mass) and energy stores (adiposity).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Bergmann's rule: Global variability in human body composition is associated with annual average precipitation and annual temperature volatility

Wells

Saunders

Lea

et al. 2019

American J Phys Anthropol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In Peru, 375 children born around the time of the 1998 El Niño event showed reduced height and lean 376 mass later in childhood compared to those unexposed, but no difference in adiposity. 94 In 377 other words, contemporary variability in physique tracks local ecological conditions along 378 exactly the same lines as suggested for long-term hominin evolution. 379…”

mentioning

confidence: 88%

Body composition and susceptibility to type 2 diabetes: an evolutionary perspective

Wells

2017

Eur J Clin Nutr

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1Type 2 diabetes is rapidly increasing in prevalence worldwide, in concert with epidemics of 2 obesity and sedentary behaviour that are themselves tracking economic development. 3Within this broad pattern, susceptibility to diabetes varies substantially in association with 4 ethnicity and nutritional exposures through the life-course. An evolutionary perspective may 5 help understand why humans are so prone to this condition in modern environments, and 6 why this risk is unequally distributed. A simple conceptual model treats diabetes risk as the 7 function of two interacting traits, namely 'metabolic capacity' which promotes glucose 8 homeostasis, and 'metabolic load' which challenges glucose homoeostasis. This conceptual 9 model helps understand how long-term and more recent trends in body composition can 10 then be considered to have shaped variability in diabetes risk. Hominin evolution appears to 11 have continued a broader trend evident in primates, towards lower levels of muscularity. In 12 addition, hominins developed higher levels of body fatness, especially in females in relative 13 terms. These traits most likely evolved as part of a broader reorganisation of human life 14 history traits in response to growing levels of ecological instability, enabling both survival 15 during tough periods and reproduction during bountiful periods. Since the emergence of 16Homo sapiens, populations have diverged in body composition in association with 17 geographical setting and local ecological stresses. These long-term trends in both metabolic 18 capacity and adiposity help explain the overall susceptibility of humans to diabetes in ways 19 that are similar to, and exacerbated by, the effects of nutritional exposures during the life-20 course. 21

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“…Early growth patterns primarily predict later size and lean mass (Wells 2011a; 2011b) rather than adiposity, and associations of birth weight or infant weight gain with later obesity appear restricted to obesogenic settings (Wells et al 2007). In Peru, early-life exposure to food insecurity following the 1998 El Nino event reduced childhood height and lean mass but had no effect on fat mass (Danysh et al 2014).…”

Section: Jonathan Ck Wellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food insecurity as a driver of obesity in humans: The insurance hypothesis

Nettle¹,

Andrews²,

Bateson³

2016

Behav Brain Sci

225

277

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Short abstract-Common sense says that obesity is the consequence of too much food. Adaptive reasoning says something rather different: individuals should store fat when access to food is insecure, to buffer themselves against future shortfall. Applied to humans, this principle suggests that food insecurity should be a risk factor for overweight and obesity. We provide a meta-analysis of the extensive epidemiological literature, finding that food insecurity robustly predicts high body weight, but only amongst women in high-income countries. We discuss the relevance of food insecurity to understanding the global obesity problem.Long abstract-Integrative explanations of why obesity is more prevalent in some sectors of the human population than others are lacking. Here, we outline and evaluate one candidate explanation, the insurance hypothesis (IH). The IH is rooted in adaptive evolutionary thinking: the function of storing fat is to provide a buffer against shortfall in the food supply. Thus, individuals should store more fat when they receive cues that access to food is uncertain. Applied to humans, this implies that an important proximate driver of obesity should be food insecurity rather than food abundance per se. We integrate several distinct lines of theory and evidence that bear on this hypothesis. We present a theoretical model that shows it is optimal to store more fat when food access is uncertain, and we review the experimental literature from non-human animals showing that fat reserves increase when access to food is restricted. We provide a meta-analysis of 125 epidemiological studies of the association between perceived food insecurity and high body weight in humans. There is a robust positive association, but it is restricted to adult women in high-income countries. We explore why this could be in light of the IH and our theoretical model. We conclude that whilst the IH alone cannot explain the distribution of obesity in the human population, it may represent a very important component of a pluralistic explanation. We also discuss insights it may offer into the developmental origins of obesity, dieting-induced weight gain, and Anorexia Nervosa.

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El Niño adversely affected childhood stature and lean mass in northern Peru

Cited by 26 publications

References 47 publications

Beyond Bergmann's rule: Global variability in human body composition is associated with annual average precipitation and annual temperature volatility

Beyond Bergmann's rule: Global variability in human body composition is associated with annual average precipitation and annual temperature volatility

Body composition and susceptibility to type 2 diabetes: an evolutionary perspective

Food insecurity as a driver of obesity in humans: The insurance hypothesis

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