Chapter 16: Contemporary Topics - Human Biology and Health
- Page ID
- 177790
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- 16.1: Agriculture and Humans
- Although we may not often stop to think about it, our evolutionary past is reflected in many aspects of modern life. The ways we “forage” for information on the internet mimics the ways we once foraged for food during our several-million-year history as hunter-gatherers . Humans are visual hunters . We practice optimal foraging strategy, meaning we make decisions based on energy return for investment.
- 16.2: Health Consequences of the Transition to Agriculture and Animal Domestication
- Beginning around 12,000 BCE, the shift from foraging to food production occurred relatively recently in our evolutionary history.in several parts of the globe, humans began to move to a diet based on domesticated plants and animals. This involved manipulating the natural landscape for food production, including clearing forests, construction of wells and irrigation ditches and exposing humans to water-borne illnesses,parasites, mosquitos and other vectors.
- 16.3: Other Diseases
- A second epidemiological transition occurred following the Industrial Revolution in Western Europe and the United States when socioeconomic, political, and cultural conditions contributed to improved standards of living, hygiene, and nutrition that minimized the effects of infectious disease, after which people began to experience the Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) that are the focus of the remainder of this chapter.
- 16.4: Syndemics and the Ecological Model
- It is important to recognize that disease risk is not spread evenly within or between populations. Diseases also combine and interact to create a syndemic, where the coexistence of two or more conditions exacerbates the effects of one or all conditions. Syndemic risk also includes social, political, economic, and environmental factors that increase risk for the clustering of two or more diseases, such as substance abuse, violence, and AIDS (SAVA).
- 16.5: Are We Still Evolving?
- Given the current global burden of non-communicable diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes discussed in this chapter, many students ask why humans have not yet evolved in response. The cultural transformation of our food supply and lifestyle came about quickly. There may not have been sufficient time for the response to be developed.
- 16.6: End of Chapter Review
- Discussion questions and key term definitions.