Consequences and Context of Stunting in the Amazon

人类学的研究为人类成长的适应性提供了重要的见解，但需要更多的研究如何通过改变当地条件和文化因素来塑造人类成长，以了解早期生活因素对以后生活中生物结果的影响。如果儿童早期生长的条件与以后的生活结果有关，那么在生命早期（2-5岁）的线性生长发育迟缓与成人身体比例和肥胖之间应该存在关系，以及后来的心血管功能（血压）和代谢率的测量。此外，这种关系在经历生活方式和营养转变或饮食和活动水平同时变化的群体中尤其明显。为了测试这些预测，该项目将收集有关饮食，活动水平，家庭条件（人口统计信息，财富）和身体成分（身高，体重，体脂）的测量数据，静息代谢率（能量使用的衡量标准），以及Tsimane人口中青年和成年人的血压，Tsimane人口是一个由农民和觅食者组成的亚马逊社会，目前正在经历营养和社会经济变化。来自该项目的数据，结合早期关于这一群体的数据收集，将用于增长曲线建模和统计分析，以评估快速社会和文化变革期间的增长模式。此外，研究结果可能会被纳入发育生物学、儿科学以及全球和本土健康等学科，因此可能会提供对全球营养转型的见解，或有助于了解美国和全球的代谢紊乱。拟议的研究将有助于学生培训，国际合作和研究界的科学推广。从根本上说，人类的成长是一个生物文化过程，最好从生命史的角度来理解。生活史理论明确地解决了竞争领域之间的权衡，如生长，繁殖和维护，以提高在动态环境中的生存和繁殖。较少的研究明确关注当地条件如何塑造生长模式，并进一步关注生命早期生长轨迹与可能导致下游健康结果的潜在权衡之间的关系。研究人员将收集来自13个Tsimane社区的人口统计学，经济，饮食和营养信息，以及所有参与者的身体组成（身高，体重，皮褶测量）的人体测量，青年和成年人子样本的身体活动数据和静息代谢率，以及所有成年人的血压。将这些数据与一个大型的、可通过计算机获得的纵向数据集（Tsimane' Amazonian Panel Study）相结合，将允许对建立在人类生长标准模型基础上的假设进行统计评估，但将不断变化的社会经济和营养环境的测量纳入其中。具体而言，假设将评估：（1）线性生长发育迟缓与生命早期的关系（2-5岁）和以后的身体比例和肥胖，（2）发育迟缓和以后的心血管健康措施之间的关系（血压）和代谢率之间的关系，以及（3）家庭条件，对购买食物的依赖，身体活动水平，和身体脂肪的测量。

Research in anthropology has provided important insights into the adaptive nature of human growth, but more research is needed on how human growth may be shaped by changing local conditions and cultural factors, in order to understand the impact of early life factors on biological outcomes later in life. If conditions during early childhood growth are connected to later-life outcomes, then there should be a relationship between linear growth stunting early in life (2-5 years of age) and adult body proportions and fatness, as well as later measures of cardiovascular function (blood pressure) and metabolic rates. Additionally, this relationship should be particularly visible among groups who are experiencing lifestyle and nutrition transitions, or concurrent changes in diet and activity levels. To test these predictions, this project will collect data on diet, activity levels, household conditions (demographic information, wealth), and measures of body composition (height, weight, body fat), resting metabolic rate (a measure of energy use), and blood pressure in youth and adults from the Tsimane' population, an Amazonian society of farmers and foragers currently experiencing nutritional and socioeconomic change. Data from this project, combined with earlier waves of data collection on this population, will be used for growth curve modeling and statistical analysis to evaluate patterns of growth during rapid social and cultural change. Further, the results may be incorporated into disciplines such as developmental biology, pediatrics, as well as global and indigenous health, and therefore may provide insights into global nutrition transitions or contribute to understanding metabolic disorders in the U.S. and globally. The proposed research will contribute to student training, international collaborations, and science outreach in the research community. Human growth is fundamentally a biocultural process that is best understood through a life-history perspective. Life history theory explicitly grapples with how trade-offs between competing domains, such as growth, reproduction, and maintenance serve to enhance survival and reproduction in dynamic environments. Less research has focused explicitly on how growth patterns may be shaped by local conditions and, by extension, the relationship between early life growth trajectories and potential trade-offs that may result in downstream health outcomes. The investigators will collect, from across thirteen Tsimane' communities, demographic, economic, dietary, and nutritional information, as well as anthropometric measures of body composition (height, weight, skinfold measurements) for all participants, physical activity data and resting metabolic rate on a sub-sample of youth and adults, and blood pressure for all adults. Combining these data with a large, publically available longitudinal data set (Tsimane' Amazonian Panel Study) will allow statistical evaluation of hypotheses that build on the standard models of human growth, but incorporate measurements of changing socioeconomic and nutritional environments. Specifically, the hypotheses will evaluate: (1) the relationship between linear growth stunting early in life (2-5 years of age) and later body proportions and fatness, (2) the relationship between stunting and later measures of cardiovascular health (blood pressure) and metabolic rates, and (3) the relationship between household conditions, reliance on purchased foods, physical activity levels, and measures of body fatness.