Simpson, S: The Nature of Nutrition

Erscheinungsjahr 2012
ISBN: 978-0-691-14565-5
Verlag: Princeton University Press

Buch, Englisch, 260 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 243 mm, Gewicht: 536 g

Nutrition has long been considered more the domain of medicine and agriculture than of the biological sciences, yet it touches and shapes all aspects of the natural world. The need for nutrients determines whether wild animals thrive, how populations evolve and decline, and how ecological communities are structured. The Nature of Nutrition is the first book to address nutrition's enormously complex role in biology, both at the level of individual organisms and in their broader ecological interactions. Stephen Simpson and David Raubenheimer provide a comprehensive theoretical approach to the analysis of nutrition--the Geometric Framework. They show how it can help us to understand the links between nutrition and the biology of individual animals, including the physiological mechanisms that determine the nutritional interactions of the animal with its environment, and the consequences of these interactions in terms of health, immune responses, and lifespan. Simpson and Raubenheimer explain how these effects translate into the collective behavior of groups and societies, and in turn influence food webs and the structure of ecosystems. Then they demonstrate how the Geometric Framework can be used to tackle issues in applied nutrition, such as the problem of optimizing diets for livestock and endangered species, and how it can also help to address the epidemic of human obesity and metabolic disease Drawing on a wealth of examples from slime molds to humans, The Nature of Nutrition has important applications in ecology, evolution, and physiology, and offers promising solutions for human health, conservation, and agriculture.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Simpson, Stephen J.

Raubenheimer, David

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Tierökologie
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Ernährungsmedizin, Diätetik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments ix

CHAPTER ONE Nutrition and Darwin?s Entangled Bank 1

1.1 Nutrition Touches and Links All Living Things 3

1.2 Nutrition Is Complex 5

1.3 Dealing with Nutritional Complexity: Enough but Not Too Much 7

1.4 Charting the Void between Nutritional Detail and Generality: The Geometric Framework 10

CHAPTER TWO The Geometry of Nutrition 11

2.1 The Geometric Framework: Basic Theory 11

2.2 The Geometric Framework in Practice 22

2.3 Conclusions 34

CHAPTER THREE Mechanisms of Nutritional Regulation 35

3.1 How to Defend an Intake Target 35

3.2 Postingestive Regulation 48

3.3 Conclusions 56

CHAPTER FOUR L ess Food, Less Sex, Live Longer? 57

4.1 How Does Macronutrient Balance Affect Life Span? 62

4.2 Less Sex, Live Longer? 66

4.3 Conclusions 70

CHAPTER FIVE Beyond Nutrients 71

5.1 The Distinction between Nutrients and Toxins 72

5.2 Self-medication and Ecological Immunology: The Distinction between Nutrients and Medicines 79

5.3 Toxins and Nutrients Interact 84

5.4 Conclusions 87

CHAPTER SIX Moving Targets 88

6.1 Moving Targets in the Short Term 88

6.2 Moving Targets in Developmental Time 91

6.3 From Parents to Offspring--Epigenetics 95

6.4 Evolving Targets 97

6.5 Evolving Rules of Compromise: Nutrient Specialists and Generalists 99

6.6 Evolving Postingestive Responses 105

6.7 Conclusions 106

CHAPTER SEVEN From Individuals to Populations and Societies 108

7.1 Cannibal Mormon Crickets 109

7.2 Locusts Are Cannibals Too 113

7.3 Communal Nutrition in Ants 114

7.4 The Blob 117

7.5 Conclusions 119

CHAPTER EIGHT How Does Nutrition Structure Ecosystems? 120

8.1 From Individual Fitness to Population Growth Rates 121

8.2 Interactions among Organisms and the Environment 122

8.3 Do Predators Regulate Nutrient Intake? 124

8.4 The Nutritional Geometry of Food Webs 130

8.5 The Nutritional Niche 138

8.6 Agent-Based Modeling of Nutritional Interactions: From Individuals to Ecosystems 144

8.7 Conclusions 145

CHAPTER NINE Applied Nutrition 147

9.1 Domestication 147

9.2 Wildlife Conservation 157

9.3 Conclusions 165

CHAPTER TEN The Geometry of Human Nutrition 167

10.1 The Modern Human Nutritional Dilemma 167

10.2 Do Humans Regulate to an Intake Target? 170

10.3 What Is the Human Rule of Compromise? 175

10.4 What Are the Implications of Protein Leverage? 182

10.5 How Do Humans Deal with Nutrient Excesses? 191

10.6 Conclusions 191

CHAPTER ELEVEN Perspectives 194

11.1 Expanding GF into Further Dimensions of Nutrition 194

11.2 GF and "Omics" 195

11.3 Nutritional Epigenetics and Early-Life Prevention of Metabolic Disease 196

11.4 Human Obesity 196

11.5 Nutritional Immunology 197

11.6 Modeling Nutritional Interactions: From Individuals to Ecosystems 198

11.7 Conclusions 199

References 201

Index 229

Über Autor(innen)

David Raubenheimer is professor of nutritional ecology at Massey University in New Zealand.

Stephen J. Simpson is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Sydney.