An Evolutionary Framework on Maladaptive Consumption Behaviours

Obesity is caused by the interaction between genetic and cultural or behavioural predispositions. Thus, both genes and culture are products of evolutionary processes, hence cultural selection acts on eating behaviours and perceptions. Nowadays, more and more scientific studies are being conducted on obesogenic phenomena owing to health concerns arising in western countries and eastern European countries, which, in recent decades, have experienced a cultural shift in food consumption and perceptions about what it is considered healthy. Heredity, changes in diet, leisure-time behaviours, and the quality of physical activity are the main factors involved in overweight and obesity. Additionally, other factors involved in obesogenic phenomena are related to family, economic factors, lifestyle, preferred foods, and nutritional beliefs regarding food consumption. Considerable cross-cultural variation exists – even among different ethnicities living in the same geographical area – and cultural selection is the principal cause. One previous study conducted on Albanian citizens aged 2 to 20 years revealed the numbers of overweight and obese Albanian children and adolescents to be among the highest in Europe. Overweight and obesity are caused by food habits and cultural perceptions regarding health. While genetics plays a significant role, it is mostly major cultural changes in post-communist countries that are responsible for obesogenic phenomena. Consumption behaviours regarding food and health in Albania are the principal factors involved in the spread of obesogenic phenomena across the post-communist states.

Keywords:

evolution, consumption behaviours, transmitted culture obesity, Balkan area, Albanians,

PDF

___

Agolli, M. (2013) Studim krahasues për mbipeshën dhe obezitetin në fëmijët e adoleshentët shqiptarë, minoritetin grek si dhe në komunitetet etno-kulturore arumune dhe rome në rrethin e Gjirokastrës. Ph.D thesis online web: www.fshn.edu.al [accessed November 2015]
Beltisari, A. (2008) Evolutionary origins of obesity. Obesity Reviews 9, 165–180.
Bodzsar EB, Zsakai A, (2014) Recents trends in childhood obesity and overweight in the transition countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Annals of Human Biology 41, 263–270.
Buss, D. M. (2008) Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind. Pearson/Allyn & Bacon, Boston, pp. 417–423.
Caprio S, Daniels SR, Drewnowski A, Kaufman FR, Palinkas L, Rosenbloom AL, Swchimmer JB, (2008) Influence of race, ethnicity, and culture on childhood obesity: implications for prevention and treatment. Diabetes Care 31, 2211–2221.
Cashdan, E. (1989) Hunters and gatherers: Economic behavior in bands. In Plattner, S. (ed) Economic Anthropology. Stanford University Press, Stanford, pp. 21–48.
Dinsa, G. D., Goryakin, Y., Fumagalli, E. & Suhrcke, M. (2012) Obesity and socioeconomic status in developing countries: a systematic review. Obesity Reviews 13, 1067–1079.
Emandi A, Puiu M, Gafencu M, Pienar C, (2013) Revista medico-chirurgicala a Societatii de Medici si Naturalisti din Iasi 117, 36–45.
Genné-Bacon EA, (2014) Thinking evolutionarily about obesity. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 87, 99–112.
Hyska J, Mersini E, Mone I, Burazeri G, (2014) Prevalence and demographic correlates of overweight and obesity among children in a transitional southeastern European population. J. Comm. Health 39, 828–834.
Karayiannis, D., Yannakoulia, M., Terzidou, M., Sidossis, L. S. & Kokkevi, A. (2003) Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Greek school-aged children and adolescents. Eu. J. Clinical Nutrition 57, 1189–1192.
Kim D, Leigh JP, (2010) Estimating the effects of wages in obesity. J. Occup. & Environ. Med. 52, 495-500
Krebs NF, Himes JH, Jacobson D,., Nicklas TA, Guilday P, Styne D, (2007) Assessment of child and adolescent overweight and obesity. Pediatrics 120, 193–228.
Mankar, M., Joshi, R. S., Belsare, P. V., Jog, M. M. & Watve, M. G. (2008) Obesity as a perceived social signal. PLoS One 3 (9), e3187.
McLaren L, (2007) Socioeconomic status and obesity. Epidemiologic Reviews 29, 29–48.
Moraeus L, Lissner L, Yngve A, Poortvliet E, Al-Ansari U, Sjoberg A, (2012) Multi-level influences on childhood obesity in Sweden: societal factors, parental determinants and child’s lifestyle. Int. J. Obesity, 36, 969–976.
National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (2010) Diseases and Conditions Index: Overweight and Obesity: What Causes Overweight and Obesity? NIH, Bethesda MD, 2010.
Neel JV, (1962) Diabetes Mellitus: A “Thrifty” Genotype Rendered Detrimental by “Progress”? Am. J. Human Genetics 14, 353–362. OECD Fact Sheet (2014) Obesıty. Updated June 2014.
Ogden CL, Caroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM, (2012) Prevalence of obesity in the United States, 2009-2010. National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief No. 82.
Phelan SM, Burgess DJ, Burke SE., Przedowsky JM, Dovidio JF, Hardeman R, (2015) Beliefs about the cause of obesity in a national sample of 4th year medical students. Patient Educ. and Couns. 98, 1446–1449.
Prentice, A. M., Hennig, B. J. & Fulford, A. J. (2008) Evolutionary origins of the obesity epidemic: natural selection of thrifty genes or genetic drift following predation release? Int. J. Obesity 32, 1607–1610.
Richerson PJ, Boyd R, (2005) Not By Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 149–190.
Sellayah, D., Cagampang, F. R. & Cox, R. D. (2014) On the evolutionary origins of obesity: a new hypothesis. Endocrinology 155, 1573–1588.
Sjoberg A, Moraeus L, Yngve A, Poortvliet E, Al-Ansari U, Lissner L, (2011) Overweight and obesity in a representative sample of schoolchildren – exploring the urban-rural gradient in Sweden. Obesity Reviews 12, 305–314.
Speakman JR,. (2008) Thrifty genes for obesity and diabetes, an attractive but flawed idea and an alternative scenario: the ‘drifty gene’ hypothesis. Int. J. Obesity 32, 1611-1617.
Speakman JR, (2013) Evolutionary perspectives on the obesity epidemics: adaptive, maladaptive and neutral viewpoints. Annual Review of Nutrition 33, 289–317.
Truong, K. D. & Sturm, R. (2005) Weight Gain Trends Across Sociodemographic Groups in the United States. Am. J. Public Health 95, 1602-1606.
Cosmides L, Tooby J, (1992) Psychological foundations of culture. In Barkow, J., Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. (eds) The Adapted Mind. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 19–136.
Watve MG, Yajnik CS, (2007) Evolutionary origins of insulin resistance: a behavioural switch hypothesis. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7, 61.
Wells JC, (2006) The evolution of human fatness and susceptibility to obesity: an ethological approach. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 81, 183–205.
WHO (2013) Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health.
WHO Fact Sheet No: 311 (2015) Overweight and obesity. Updated January 2015.

Journal of International Environmental Application and Science-Cover

ISSN: 1307-0428
Yayın Aralığı: Yılda 4 Sayı
Başlangıç: 2006
Yayıncı: Selçuk Üniversitesi

Arşiv