Alan H. Goodman

Nutritional Inference from Paleopathology

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews how patterns of skeletal growth and pathology can be used to investigate changing patterns of human interaction with the nutritional environment. Much of the effort in paleonutrition research has been directed toward the identification of dietary items. The realization that the skeletal pathologies of archaeological populations could aid in interpreting adaptation stimulated research in this area. The greatest drawback to the use of skeletal populations in nutritional studies is the generalized nature of their response to Stressors. Skeletal pathologies are most useful for archaeological reconstruction when a series of general and specific measures are analyzed for an entire skeletal population. In this way, both chronic and acute stress can be recognized, and the severity of each assessed. The future productivity of paleonutritional studies will require cooperation not only between anthropological subdisciplines, but between anthropology and a variety of other disciplines. Skeletal analysis, in particular, is increasingly oriented toward the techniques of chemistry and microbiology.

The origins of agriculture: population growth during a period of declining health.

The increase in the Neolithic human population following the development of agriculture has been assumed to result from improvements in health and nutrition. Recent research demonstrates that this assumption is incorrect. With the development of sedentism and the intensification of agriculture, there is an increase in infectious disease and nutritional deficiencies particularly affecting infants and children.Declining health probably increased mortality among infants, children and oldest adults. However, the productive and reproductive core would have been able to respond to this increase in mortality by reducing birth spacing. That is, agricultural populations increased in size, despite higher mortality, because intervals between births became shorter.

Infant and childhood morbidity and mortality risks in archaeological populations.

Abstract Infants and children are nearly universally found to be among the most vulnerable subgroups of a population. Their health can be a sensitive indicator of the health of the population as a whole. Furthermore, repeated bouts of illness during infancy and childhood, periods of rapid development, can have lasting functional effects on the individual and the group. In this paper we provide a framework for studying infant and childhood health in archaeological populations, briefly review methods for studying infant‐childhood health in skeletal remains, and provide examples of the sensitivity and adaptive significance of this segment of the population by examining infant and childhood health at Dickson Mounds, Illinois and Wadi Haifa, Sudanese Nubia. A variety of methods are available for studying infant and childhood health in archaeological groups. Taken together, these methods can provide insights into the patterns and consequences of health in prehistory.

Changes in stature, weight, and nutritional status with tourism-based economic development in the Yucatan

Over the past 40 years, tourism-based economic development has transformed social and economic conditions in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. We address how these changes have influenced anthropometric indicators of growth and nutritional status in Yalcoba, a Mayan farming community involved in the circular migration of labor in the tourist economy. Data are presented on stature and weight for children measured in 1938 in the Yucatan Peninsula and from 1987 to 1998 in the Mayan community of Yalcoba. In addition, stature, weight and BMI are presented for adults in Yalcoba based on clinic records. Childhood stature varied little between 1938 and 1987. Between 1987 and 1998 average male child statures increased by 2.6cm and female child statures increased by 2.7cm. Yet, 65% of children were short for their ages. Between 1987 and 1998, average child weight increased by 1.8kg. Child BMIs were similar to US reference values and 13% were considered to be above average for weight. Forty percent of adult males and 64% of females were overweight or obese. The anthropometric data from Yalcoba suggest a pattern of stunted children growing into overweight adults. This pattern is found elsewhere in the Yucatan and in much of the developing world where populations have experienced a nutrition transition toward western diets and reduced physical activity levels.

Pulque intake during pregnancy and lactation in rural Mexico: alcohol and child growth from 1 to 57 months

Objective: To examine maternal intake of a mildly alcoholic beverage (pulque) during pregnancy and lactation, and its potential effect on postpartum child growth and attained size.Design: A prospective cohort study that followed mothers (during pregnancy and lactation) and their offspring (from birth to approximately 57 months of age).Setting: Six villages in rural, central Mexico.Subjects: Subjects are 58 mother–child pairs. Pulque intake was measured as part of a dietary assessment that was conducted for 2days/month during pregnancy and early lactation.Results: Most mothers consumed pulque during pregnancy (69.0%) and lactation (72.4%). Among pulque drinkers, the average ethanol intake was 125.1 g/week during pregnancy and 113.8 g/week during lactation. Greater pulque intake during lactation, independent of intake during pregnancy, was associated with slower weight and linear growth from 1 to 57 months, and smaller attained size at 57 months. Low-to-moderate pulque intake during pregnancy, in comparison to either nonconsumption or heavy intake, was also associated with greater stature at 57 months.Conclusions: Pulque intake during lactation may have adversely influenced postnatal growth in this population. Public health interventions are urgently needed in Mexico to reduce heavy intake of pulque by pregnant and lactating women, and to replace intake with foods that provide the vitamins and minerals present in the traditional alcoholic beverage.

Post-Pleistocene facial reduction, biomechanics and selection against morphologically complex teeth: A rejoinder to macchiarelli and bondioli

Macchiarelli & Bondioli (1984, 1986) argue that post-Pleistocene cranio-facial reduction cannot be explained by biomechanical factors related to change in the diet (Carlson, 1974;Carlson & Van Gerven, 1977) or to facial reduction related to the selective advantages of smaller, morphologically simpler teeth (Greene, 1967;Van Gerven, Armelagos & Rohr, 1977). Instead, they maintain that facial reduction is a mere side-effect of a reduction in overall body size. Our analysis of skeletal and facial reduction in post-Pleistocene Sudanese Nubia suggests thatMacchiarelli & Bondiolis interpretation is incorrect for two reasons. First, the reduction in facial morphology (at least since Mesolithic times) is greater by several orders of magnitude than the reduction in general body size. Second, the dentition not only shows a greater size reduction than does general body size, but a shifting pattern of dental reduction rather than a general decrease across all teeth.

Dental Enamel Hypoplasias in Prehistoric Populations

Recent years have witnessed an impressive increase in research on enamel hypoplasias in archaeological populations. By reviewing a series of studies of enamel hypoplasias at Dickson Mounds, Illinois, North America (950-1300 A.D.), a prehistoric site involved in the transition from gathering-hunting to agriculture, this paper provides an illustration of this type of research. The location of linear hypoplasias on labial tooth surfaces of 111 adults was studied with a thin-tipped caliper, and this location was converted to an age at development. Most defects developed between two and four years of developmental age. Hypoplasias increased in prevalence from 45% in the pre-agriculture group to 80% in the agricultural group (p < 0.01). The transition to agriculture occurred at a cost to infant and childhood health. Defects are associated with decreased longevity. Individuals with defects have a life expectancy of nearly ten years fewer than those without defects, suggesting that the development of a defect marks a significant and lasting health event. Enamel hypoplasias occur most frequently on anterior teeth, polar teeth in developmental fields, and the middle developmental thirds of teeth. Analysis of these data suggests that enamel may be differentially susceptible to growth disruption and that susceptibility varies both within and among teeth. The study of enamel defects at Dickson provides insights into the health and nutritional consequences of the economic change from hunting and gathering to agriculture. More generally, with the availability of teeth from genetically homogeneous populations, studies of enamel hypoplasias in prehistory should provide a useful complement to research on this condition in contemporary peoples.

Tooth Rings: Dental Enamel as a Chronological Biomonitor of Elemental Absorption from Pregnancy to Adolescence

Because the dental hard tissues commence development in the 13th week in utero and once formed are essentially inert, they may provide unique windows onto environmental and physiological changes du...

Happenings and Hearsay: Experiences of a Biological Anthropologist.

HAPPENINGS AND HEARSAY: EXPERIENCES OF A BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGIST. By Gabriel W. Lasker. Detroit: Savoyard Books, Wayne State University Press. 1999. ISBN 0-8143-2840-7.

The Interaction of Race, Human Variation, and Health

30.00 (cloth).