The life history model of the insurance hypothesis

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin-Bin Chen

AbstractNettle et al.’s explanation based on the insurance hypothesis applies only to the association between food insecurity and body weight among adult women, but not to the results about there being no such associations among adult men and children. These results may be best understood when the insurance hypothesis is integrated with the life history model.

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Hill ◽  
Randi P. Proffitt Leyva ◽  
Danielle J. DelPriore

AbstractThe target article explores the role of food insecurity as a contemporary risk factor for human overweight and obesity. The authors provide conditional support for the insurance hypothesis among adult women from high-income countries. We consider the potential contribution of additional factors in producing variation in adiposity patterns between species and across human contexts.


Author(s):  
Daniel Nettle ◽  
Clare Andrews ◽  
Melissa Bateson

AbstractIntegrative explanations of why obesity is more prevalent in some sectors of the human population than others are lacking. Here, we outline and evaluate one candidate explanation, the insurance hypothesis (IH). The IH is rooted in adaptive evolutionary thinking: The function of storing fat is to provide a buffer against shortfall in the food supply. Thus, individuals should store more fat when they receive cues that access to food is uncertain. Applied to humans, this implies that an important proximate driver of obesity should be food insecurity rather than food abundance per se. We integrate several distinct lines of theory and evidence that bear on this hypothesis. We present a theoretical model that shows it is optimal to store more fat when food access is uncertain, and we review the experimental literature from non-human animals showing that fat reserves increase when access to food is restricted. We provide a meta-analysis of 125 epidemiological studies of the association between perceived food insecurity and high body weight in humans. There is a robust positive association, but it is restricted to adult women in high-income countries. We explore why this could be in light of the IH and our theoretical model. We conclude that although the IH alone cannot explain the distribution of obesity in the human population, it may represent a very important component of a pluralistic explanation. We also discuss insights it may offer into the developmental origins of obesity, dieting-induced weight gain, and anorexia nervosa.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (16) ◽  
pp. 8368
Author(s):  
Luis M. Valor ◽  
Jorge C. Morales ◽  
Irati Hervás-Corpión ◽  
Rosario Marín

Abnormal trinucleotide expansions cause rare disorders that compromise quality of life and, in some cases, lifespan. In particular, the expansions of the CGG-repeats stretch at the 5’-UTR of the Fragile X Mental Retardation 1 (FMR1) gene have pleiotropic effects that lead to a variety of Fragile X-associated syndromes: the neurodevelopmental Fragile X syndrome (FXS) in children, the late-onset neurodegenerative disorder Fragile X-associated tremor-ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) that mainly affects adult men, the Fragile X-associated primary ovarian insufficiency (FXPOI) in adult women, and a variety of psychiatric and affective disorders that are under the term of Fragile X-associated neuropsychiatric disorders (FXAND). In this review, we will describe the pathological mechanisms of the adult “gain-of-function” syndromes that are mainly caused by the toxic actions of CGG RNA and FMRpolyG peptide. There have been intensive attempts to identify reliable peripheral biomarkers to assess disease progression and onset of specific pathological traits. Mitochondrial dysfunction, altered miRNA expression, endocrine system failure, and impairment of the GABAergic transmission are some of the affectations that are susceptible to be tracked using peripheral blood for monitoring of the motor, cognitive, psychiatric and reproductive impairment of the CGG-expansion carriers. We provided some illustrative examples from our own cohort. Understanding the association between molecular pathogenesis and biomarkers dynamics will improve effective prognosis and clinical management of CGG-expansion carriers.


2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaudia B. Ambroziak ◽  
Elena Azañón ◽  
Matthew R. Longo

AbstractBody image distortions are common in healthy individuals and a central aspect of serious clinical conditions, such as eating disorders. This commentary explores the potential implications of body image and its distortions for the insurance hypothesis. In particular, we speculate that body image may be an intervening variable mediating the relationship between perceived food scarcity and eating behavior.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 97-107
Author(s):  
Alexandra Giurgiu ◽  
Iacob Hanțiu

ABSTRACT. Introduction. Regular physical activity has positive effects on human body composition, even if not combined with a diet. For many people this activity aims to reduce the amount of fat in some areas of the body and targets body shaping. Objectives. The main objective of this study was to learn about the effects of a 12-months regular participation in aerobic training exercises. Methods. This study was voluntarily attended by 89 women with an average age of 31.62, practicing aerobic exercises in gyms, three times a week for a period of 12 months. We carried out anthropometric measurements of subjects at the beginning and at end of the study, respectively, and data was statistically analysed using the SPSS 23.0 software. Results. Data collected was statistically processed, showing that participation in physical training led to reducing body weight by 4.81 kg, decrease of adipose tissue - between the two moments there was a difference of 5 % - fat mass decreased by 4.26 kg, and lean body mass by 0.55 kg. Significant decrease in chest, waist and hip circumference was also noticed. Conclusions. Regular participation in physical training programs involving aerobic exercise for 12 months has had the effect of reducing body weight and the amount of fat in some areas of the body, materialized by decreasing the value of the circumference of the chest, waist and hips, with the intention of reaching the ideal body weight and aiming for body shaping.


BMJ Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. e020802 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bishwajit Ghose ◽  
Sanni Yaya

ObjectivesTo investigate the (1) time trends in body mass index (BMI) and (2) relationship between media use and body weight status among adult women in Nigeria. We hypothesise that higher frequency of media use is associated with higher likelihood of being overweight and obesity among adult women.Study designCross-sectional.SettingUrban and rural settings in Nigeria.ParticipantsAdult non-pregnant women aged between 15 and 49 years.MethodsData were derived from Nigeria Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 2003, 2008 and 2013. The outcome variable was excess body weight (overweight and obesity), and main explanatory variables were frequency of reading newspaper, listening to radio and television (TV) viewing. Datasets were merged to perform pooled analysis, and were analysed using bivariate and multivariable regression techniques.ResultsOf the 69 401 participants, 16.2% had a BMI of 25.0–29.9 kg/m2(95% CI 15.8 to 16.6) and 6.6% had >30 kg/m2(95% CI 6.3 to 6.9). Between 2003 and 2013, the prevalence of overweight women increased by 4.1%, and that of obesity by 2.2%. Overall, radio was the most popular media followed by TV and newspaper. Respectively, 15.6% and 11.7% of the women reported using radio and TV almost every day and 30.6% and 25.1% at least once a week. In multivariable analysis, watching TV almost every day and at least once a week were associated with, respectively, 1.6 and 1.2 times higher odds of being overweight, and 2.7 and 1.5 times higher odds of being obese compared with those who never used radio. Similarly, significant associations were observed for newspaper and radio use as well.ConclusionThe prevalence of overweight and obesity is noticeably high among Nigerian women and has been increasing steadily over the past decade. A statistically significant association exists between BMI and the use of newspaper, radio and TV. Further studies are required to develop a better understanding of the mechanisms that underlie this relationship.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-151
Author(s):  
Parisa Fani ◽  
Michael N. Patlas ◽  
Sandra Monteiro ◽  
Douglas S. Katz

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 736-747 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Martínez-Jaikel ◽  
Edward A. Frongillo ◽  
Christine E. Blake ◽  
Maryah S. Fram ◽  
Viviana Esquivel-Solís

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsty Mary Davies ◽  
Lucy Gaia Cheke ◽  
Nicola Susan Clayton

AbstractIn evaluating the insurance hypothesis as an explanation for obesity, we propose one missing piece of the puzzle. Our suggested explanation for why individuals report food insecurity is that an individual may have an impaired episodic ability to plan for the future.


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