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Adipose Tissue in Evolution

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Adipose Tissue and Adipokines in Health and Disease

Part of the book series: Nutrition and Health ((NH))

Abstract

For storage and later utilization of ingested energy, fat is the most efficient form, because 1 g of fat contains nine calories, whereas 1 g of protein or carbohydrates contains only four calories. Ever since Neel’s [60] concept of a “thrifty genotype,” the human ability to store fat in adipose depots has been related to our species’ potential to withstand periodic famines. This ability, while being adaptive for subsistence cultures in a rough and highly variable Pleistocene environment, has become a maladaptation in modern societies due to the continuous availability of the preferred sweet and fatty foods. To understand the recent global trend toward obesity in humans, we need an evolutionary perspective on the costs and benefits of adipose depots (cf. [10, 68, 84]), which can be gained by looking at other mammals and, in particular, primates. Many animals living in natural habitats manage to meet the challenge of alternating periods of food scarcity and abundance by storing fat. Others rely more on skillful retrieval and extraction of hidden high-quality foods, and thus follow a strategy of cognitive instead of physiological flexibility. In this chapter, I will present comparative evidence for an almost unique human strategy to combine physiological and cognitive buffering of lean periods.

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  1. University of Zürich, Anthropological Institute and Museum, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zürich, Switzerland

    Karin Isler Ph.D.

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  1. Karin Isler Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Karin Isler Ph.D. .

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  1. Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Giamila Fantuzzi

  2. Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Carol Braunschweig

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Isler, K. (2014). Adipose Tissue in Evolution. In: Fantuzzi, G., Braunschweig, C. (eds) Adipose Tissue and Adipokines in Health and Disease. Nutrition and Health. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-770-9_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-770-9_1

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