Nutrition and Reproductive Ecology

Abstract

Chapter 4 reviews the interplay between nutrition and natural selection. Much of the discussion of evolution of the human diet revolves around energetic requirements because the increased demand is easy to identify as brain and body size increase over our lineage. However, it is important to be reminded that nutrients have other roles besides yielding energy, primarily regulatory and structural. These latter functions are especially important from the viewpoint of female pregnancy and child rearing. This incongruence of reproductive demands between the sexes lends to the discussion of the evolution of sexual division of labor in human societies, suggesting that some of the differences in resource acquisition may be related to different nutritional needs.