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The Evolution of Obesity

Jay Schulkin author Michael L Power author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Johns Hopkins University Press

Published:16th Jun '09

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The Evolution of Obesity cover

Compelling, well written, and brimming with fascinating facts and observations. With its broadly comparative perspective and holistic focus, this is an important and unique contribution to the obesity literature that challenges conventional assumptions about the disease and its origins. -- Chris Kuzawa, Northwestern University

An examination of the causes and consequences of the obesity epidemic. It offers insight into the question, Why are we getting fatter? It probes evolutionary biology, history, physiology, and medical science to uncover the causes of our growing girth. The unexpected answer? Our own evolutionary success.In this sweeping exploration of the relatively recent obesity epidemic, Michael L. Power and Jay Schulkin probe evolutionary biology, history, physiology, and medical science to uncover the causes of our growing girth. The unexpected answer? Our own evolutionary success. For most of the past few million years, our evolutionary ancestors' survival depended on being able to consume as much as possible when food was available and to store the excess energy for periods when it was scarce. In the developed world today, high-calorie foods are readily obtainable, yet the propensity to store fat is part of our species' heritage, leaving an increasing number of the world's people vulnerable to obesity. In an environment of abundant food, we are anatomically, physiologically, metabolically, and behaviorally programmed in a way that makes it difficult for us to avoid gaining weight. Power and Schulkin's engagingly argued book draws on popular examples and sound science to explain our expanding waistlines and to discuss the consequences of being overweight for different demographic groups. They review the various studies of human and animal fat use and storage, including those that examine fat deposition and metabolism in men and women; chronicle cultural differences in food procurement, preparation, and consumption; and consider the influence of sedentary occupations and lifestyles. A compelling and comprehensive examination of the causes and consequences of the obesity epidemic, The Evolution of Obesity offers fascinating insights into the question, Why are we getting fatter?

Michael L. Power and Jay Schulkin take a frankly Darwinian approach... The evolutionary account of obesity is a powerful one-indeed, almost too powerful. -- Elizabeth Colbert New Yorker 2009 Elbowing the weight-loss guides on 'health' bookshelves, is a spate of new, more diet-neutral books that track the sociology of obesity, including... The Evolution of Obesity. -- Mandy Katz New York Times 2009 Goes far beyond anything else that is available on obesity... Power and Schulkin deserve much credit for their bold attempt to combine evolutionary and reductionist explanations, and for their unflinching acknowledgment of complexity. Nature 2009 An excellent and comprehensive explanation for the increased incidence of obesity... In summary, this informative and easily read book is an important companion for students, fellows, and clinicians who wish to understand the causes of the obesity epidemic and how obesity might lead to metabolic disease. New England Journal of Medicine 2009 This will be an extremely useful introduction for graduate and undergraduate students and for mainstream researchers to set the wealth of endocrine and metabolic data connected with obesity into a wider framework of understanding. -- John Speakman Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism 2010

ISBN: 9780801892622

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 31mm

Weight: 748g

408 pages