Human Frontiers, Environments and Disease

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 8
Contents......Page 9
Sources for illustrations......Page 10
Preface......Page 13
1 Disease patterns in human biohistory......Page 19
Disease in history: seeking patterns......Page 24
A polar bear for a bishop: carrying capacity and survival......Page 27
What is ‘health’?......Page 32
Seeking an ‘ecological’ perspective......Page 35
Population-level influences on human health......Page 40
Conclusion......Page 46
2 Human biology: the Pleistocene inheritance......Page 48
Natural selection......Page 52
Climate, environment and hominid evolution......Page 56
The australopithecines......Page 59
Changes in the australopithecine diet......Page 61
Hominine evolution in the Pleistocene......Page 64
The enlarging brain: thinking versus digesting......Page 66
Handling metabolic energy: the insulin response......Page 68
Dispersal out of Africa......Page 71
Conclusion......Page 74
3 Adapting to diversity: climate, food and infection......Page 76
Climate: skin pigmentation and immune function......Page 79
Diet: beans and genes......Page 82
Diabetes: the Pleistocene legacy?......Page 84
The lactose tolerance factor......Page 88
Other selection pressures from novel foods......Page 91
Infection......Page 92
Malaria: a redoubtable survivor......Page 93
Malaria: evolutionary origins......Page 96
Malaria: the struggle between parasite and host......Page 101
Human diversity: misplaced notions of ‘race’......Page 103
Conclusion......Page 105
4 Infectious disease: humans and microbes coevolving......Page 106
Cholera......Page 107
Tuberculosis......Page 109
Infection as a way of life......Page 111
Evolutionary origins of human infectious diseases......Page 116
The first historical transition: agrarian ecology......Page 118
Towns and city-states: extending the first transition......Page 121
The second transition: contacts between civilisations......Page 125
The Black Death......Page 126
The third transition: trans-oceanic decimations......Page 129
Trans-Atlantic slavery and South Seas explorations......Page 132
Today’s world: the Fourth Transition?......Page 133
The widening scope of ‘infectious’ diseases......Page 136
Conclusion......Page 139
5 The Third Horseman: food, farming and famines......Page 141
Thomas Malthus: mouths versus meals......Page 142
Famines, climate and societal crises in history......Page 144
The Irish potato famine......Page 149
The history of foraging and farming: palaeolithic origins......Page 150
The origins of agriculture – and of health inequalities......Page 154
Food production, land degradation and health......Page 160
Future prospects: security and sustainability?......Page 164
Conclusion......Page 168
6 The industrial era: the Fifth Horseman?......Page 170
Historical perceptions of environmental hazards......Page 173
Environmental management: evolving priorities and practices......Page 178
Environmental health hazards in the modern world......Page 182
Spanners in the metabolic works......Page 184
Arsenic in groundwater: the Bangladesh disaster......Page 187
Environmental degradation in the Soviet Union......Page 189
Urban air pollution......Page 190
Environmental lead and health......Page 192
Radon: the domestication of a hazard......Page 194
Environmental and social impacts of modern food production......Page 195
Genetically modified foods......Page 198
Conclusion......Page 201
7 Longer lives and lower birth rates......Page 203
Human numbers: three great surges in 80,000 years......Page 205
The demographic transition......Page 207
The epidemiological transition......Page 210
Life expectancy: historical trends......Page 211
Modern gains in life expectancy......Page 215
Ageing and the human life-span......Page 219
Old age, dependency and dementia......Page 221
Fertility rates......Page 223
Nature’s ‘r strategists’: the example of turtles......Page 225
Human fertility then and now......Page 226
Annulling natural selection?......Page 228
Future prospects: sustaining 9 billion......Page 229
Carrying capacity, and population growth patterns......Page 230
The impact of HIV/AIDS on population growth......Page 233
Health consequences of modern reproductive interventions......Page 234
Conclusion......Page 236
8 Modern affluence: lands of milk and honey......Page 238
The kaleidoscope of disease in Western societies......Page 243
Coronary heart disease: a case study......Page 244
Consumption behaviours and disease risks......Page 249
Dietary energy, physical activity and obesity......Page 253
Meat-eating, vegetarianism and disease risks......Page 258
Diet and cancer......Page 260
Globalisation, commodities and health: the larger view......Page 264
Cigarettes into the Third World and Central and Eastern Europe......Page 265
Conclusion......Page 266
9 Cities, social environments and synapses......Page 268
Industrialisation, cities and health: recent history......Page 272
The health impacts of urbanisation......Page 275
Heatwaves and mortality: systemic versus individual factors......Page 276
Urban transport systems, cars and health......Page 277
The urban environment and mental health......Page 280
Ecological footprints of urban populations......Page 282
The social environment, inequalities and health......Page 283
Inequalities, hierarchies and health: causal pathways......Page 289
Health nequalities: evidence at the population level......Page 292
Social cohesion and health: Central and Eastern Europe......Page 295
Cities, societies and synapses......Page 297
Conclusion......Page 299
10 Global environmental change: overstepping limits......Page 301
Larger footprints–and larger risks to health......Page 302
Europe: a long history of environmental exploitation......Page 307
Global environmental change: how big a health hazard?......Page 309
Global climate change and its health impacts......Page 313
Infectious diseases......Page 318
Food production, hunger and malnutrition......Page 321
Sea-level rise: impacts on coastal regions and populations......Page 323
Stratospheric ozone depletion, ultraviolet radiation and health......Page 324
Disruption of nitrogen and sulphur cycles......Page 326
Loss of biodiversity......Page 328
Invasive species and risks to health......Page 330
Land degradation, ocean fisheries and food yields......Page 331
Systems, thermodynamic imperatives and sustainability......Page 333
Conclusion......Page 335
11 Health and disease: an ecological perspective......Page 336
Evolution of ideas about health and disease......Page 338
Beyond individualism: ecological perspectives......Page 341
The epidemiologist’s perspective......Page 344
The ‘sustainability’ of population health......Page 346
Dealing with uncertainty and complexity......Page 347
Land use patterns and infectious diseases: ecological case-studies......Page 350
Rich and poor: the political ecology of health......Page 353
Conclusion......Page 356
12 Footprints to the future: treading less heavily......Page 359
Science and social policy: enlarging the frame......Page 364
Beyond efficiency: seeking a different economics......Page 366
Fairness and sustainability......Page 368
Preparing for a post-genome world......Page 371
The Sustainability Transition......Page 373
Estimating an optimum population size......Page 374
Managing the future......Page 378
Conclusion......Page 381
1 Disease patterns in human biohistory......Page 384
2 Human biology: the Pleistocence inheritance......Page 387
3 Adapting to diversity: climate, food and infection......Page 390
4 Infectious disease: humans and microbes coevolving......Page 393
5 The Third Horseman: food, farming and famines......Page 397
6 The industrial era: the Fifth Horseman?......Page 399
7 Longer lives and lower birth rates......Page 403
8 Modern affluence: lands of milk and honey......Page 407
9 Cities, social environments and synapses......Page 410
10 Global environmental change: overstepping limits......Page 413
11 Health and disease: an ecological perspective......Page 416
12 Footprints to the future: treading less heavily......Page 418
Index......Page 421