Adipose development is consistent across hunter-gatherers and diverges from western references

Area of Science:

• Human Evolutionary Biology
• Developmental Pediatrics
• Nutritional Anthropology

Background:

• Humans are characterized as unusually fat primates, yet empirical data on adipose patterning in hunter-gatherer populations remain scarce.
• Understanding adipose development in diverse human groups is crucial for a comprehensive view of human evolution and physiology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the developmental patterns of adiposity in contemporary hunter-gatherer children and adolescents.
• To establish a baseline for adipose development in forager populations and compare it with reference data.

Main Methods:

• Utilized multi-level generalized additive mixed modeling to analyze triceps skinfold growth in Aka, Savanna Pumé, Ju'/Hoansi, and Agta children.
• Examined patterns from early childhood through adolescence across diverse environmental settings.

Main Results:

• Hunter-gatherer children exhibit leanness in early childhood with delayed fat accumulation and no adiposity rebound at age 5.
• Adolescent girls reach menarche at peak adiposity velocity, while a metabolic trade-off between skeletal growth and fat accumulation shifts during development.
• Consistent patterns across diverse hunter-gatherer groups suggest a general forager developmental trajectory.

Conclusions:

• Hunter-gatherer developmental patterns offer a distinct baseline for adipose development compared to reference populations.
• Findings underscore the plasticity of human growth and development, influenced by environmental and lifestyle factors.