Chronic diseases have rapidly become the leading global cause of morbidity and mortality, yet there is poor understanding of this transition, or why particular social and ethnic groups are especially susceptible. In this book, Wells adopts a multidisciplinary approach to human nutrition, emphasising how power relations shape the physiological pathways to obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Part I reviews the physiological basis of chronic diseases, presenting a 'capacity-load' model that integrates the nutritional contributions of developmental experience and adult lifestyle. Part II presents an evolutionary perspective on the sensitivity of human metabolism to ecological stresses, highlighting how social hierarchy impacts metabolism on an intergenerational timescale. Part III reviews how nutrition has changed over time, as societies evolved and coalesced towards a single global economic system. Part IV integrates these physiological, evolutionary and politico-economic perspectives in a unifying framework, to deepen our understanding of the societal basis of metabolic ill-health.

This book explores the nature of pregnancy and metabolic syndrome as proinflammatory conditions and explains how pregnancy provides a window of opportunity for preventing the lifelong complications of metabolic syndrome, during which key risk factors can be identified and beneficial dietary changes can be implemented. The book’s opening sections discuss inflammation in the context of pregnancy, including the nature of the placenta as a proinflammatory tissue. In the main body, it points to new possible connections to truncal obesity, inflammation, metabolic syndrome, and major obstetrical syndromes, including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and pre-term delivery. Based on the insights offered by this analysis, the remainder of the book focuses on a variety of nutritional measures and diets that can be of benefit during and beyond pregnancy. Readers will learn how the higher level of compliance with medical instructions during pregnancy can be capitalized on to ensure enduring health benefits for mother and child alike.

This comprehensive and updated book focuses on breastfeeding and its long-term effects which affect health and development, providing a protective metabolic programming against chronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome and hypertension. All recent developments of programming effects of breastfeeding are covered in chapters that provide fundamental knowledge besides update and sophisticated information on the subject. Special focus on: Metabolic programming Neuro-developmental Programming Infections This book will benefit neonatologists, pediatricians, GPs, obstetricians, endocrinologists and all health professionals interested in this quite new and developing topic. Residents and student will appreciate the contents coverage and clarity.

This comprehensive handbook synthesizes the often-fractured relationship between the study of biology and the study of society. Bringing together a compelling array of interdisciplinary contributions, the authors demonstrate how nuanced attention to both the biological and social sciences opens up novel perspectives upon some of the most significant sociological, anthropological, philosophical and biological questions of our era. The six sections cover topics ranging from genomics and epigenetics, to neuroscience and psychology to social epidemiology and medicine. The authors collaboratively present state-of-the-art research and perspectives in some of the most intriguing areas of what can be called biosocial and biocultural approaches, demonstrating how quickly we are moving beyond the acrimonious debates that characterized the border between biology and society for most of the twentieth century. This landmark volume will be an extremely valuable resource for scholars and practitioners in all areas of the social and biological sciences. The chapter 'Ten Theses on the Subject of Biology and Politics: Conceptual, Methodological, and Biopolitical Considerations' is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license via link.springer.com. Versions of the chapters 'The Transcendence of the Social', 'Scrutinizing the Epigenetics Revolution', 'Species of Biocapital, 2008, and Speciating Biocapital, 2017' and 'Experimental Entanglements: Social Science and Neuroscience Beyond Interdisciplinarity' are available open access via third parties. For further information please see license information in the chapters or on link.springer.com.

This timely and most comprehensive reference available on the topic covers all the different aspects vital in the fight against the global obesity epidemic. Following a look at adipose tissue development and morphology, the authors go on to examine its metabolic and endocrine functions and its role in disease. The final section deals with comparative and evolutionary aspects of the tissue. The result is an essential resource for cell and molecular biologists, physiologists, biochemists, pharmacologists, and those working in the pharmaceutical industry.

Integrates medical and evolutionary data on the role of body fat in human biology, including the current obesity epidemic.

Ten years after the Human Genome Project’s completion the life sciences stand in a moment of uncertainty, transition, and contestation. The postgenomic era has seen rapid shifts in research methodology, funding, scientific labor, and disciplinary structures. Postgenomics is transforming our understanding of disease and health, our environment, and the categories of race, class, and gender. At the same time, the gene retains its centrality and power in biological and popular discourse. The contributors to Postgenomics analyze these ruptures and continuities and place them in historical, social, and political context. Postgenomics, they argue, forces a rethinking of the genome itself, and opens new territory for conversations between the social sciences, humanities, and life sciences. Contributors. Russ Altman, Rachel A. Ankeny, Catherine Bliss, John Dupré, Michael Fortun, Evelyn Fox Keller, Sabina Leonelli, Adrian Mackenzie, Margot Moinester, Aaron Panofsky, Sarah S. Richardson, Sara Shostak, Hallam Stevens