FORMAT: 80 minute LECTURES
READING: One BROAD REVIEW OR BOOK CHAPTER per session, posted on website and sent to each student by e-mail.
DAY: Tuesday and Thursdays
TIME: 9:30 to 10:50 am
LOCATION: York Hall 2622
EXAMS: Exams have to be taken in person.
1) Thursday October 27th 1 hour, multiple choice,
2) Final Thursday December 8, 8:00 to 10:59 am to TBA 2 hours 50 minutes, simple sentence replies to questions
EVALUATION: Grades will be based on student participation, Midterm and Final exam performances.
Student participation will include questions about the reading sent to the instructor and teaching assistants.
Students are expected to submit one question about the reading via Canvas prior to the next lecture.
Several opportunities for extra-credit will be provided. Details to be discussed in class.
WEB PAGE: https://www.pascalgagneux.com/copy-of-anbi-141-evo-diet
Recordings of lecture, PDF of slides, key concepts, and practice questions will be posted after each lecture.
LECTURES:
Thursday September 22
1. What is food?
"You are what you eat". Autotrophy versus heterotrophy, Plants as the basis of food, the molecular nature of food
Reading: none
Tuesday September 27
2. Culture and Food
"You eat what you are"., norms about local food, purity and health, cooking and eating habits
Reading: Food, Self and Identity. Claude Fischler. 1988. Anthropology of Food, Social Science Information
Thursday September 29
3. Eating landscapes
Ecology provides the menu, the eaters need to distinguish and choose.
Reading: The Sensory Ecology of Primate Food Perception Dominy N. et al. , 2001. Evolutionary Anthropology
Tuesday October 4
4. Dietary adaptation
Poisonous landscapes and chemical tricks, with help from little friends, the gut microbiome.
Reading: Anti-nutritional factors in plant foods: Potential health benefits and adverse effects. Habtamu Fekadu Gemede, Negussie Ratta 2014 International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
Thursday October 6
5. Broad versus narrow
Generalist versus specialist, biochemical and behavioral demands of narrow or general diets.
Reading: The paradoxical nature of hunter-gatherer diets: meat-based, yet non-atherogenic L Cordain et al. 2002 European Journal of Clinical Nutrition Suppl 1, S42–S52
Tuesday October 11
6. Leaves, fruit, seeds, or animals?
How many hours a day do you want to be chewing? Easy to find low energy food versus difficult to find rich food?
Reading: The gourmet ape: evolution and human food preferences. John R Krebs. 2009. Am J Clin Nutr.
Thursday October 13
7. Extractive foraging
When food forces you to work: hard shells, underground food, defended seeds etc: chimpanzee nut-cracking, acorn leaching, yams treatments, nixtamalization.
Reading: Life history, cognition and the evolution of complex foraging niches. Schuppli C. et al.. 2016. J. of Human Evolution
Tuesday October 18
8. Hunting/Scavenging
The rewards and risks of meat. Humans as top carnivores.
Reading: Origins of the Human Predatory Pattern - The Transition to Large-Animal Exploitation by Early Hominins by Jessica C. Thompson, Carvalho, S. et al. 2009.Current Anthropology.
Thursday October 20
9. Vitamins, things your body cannot make
A little bit of many things.
Reading: The Historical Evolution of Thought Regarding Multiple Micronutrient Nutrition. Richard D. Semba. 2012. The Journal of Nutrition
Tuesday October 25
10. Minerals and water
Salt and water, no life without them!
Reading: The ancestral human diet: what was it and should it be a paradigm for contemporary nutrition? S. Boyd Eaton. 2006. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society
Thursday October 27
MIDTERM (Multiple choice questions)
Tuesday November 1
11. The immunological paradox of food
food is foreign, but we need it to get into our bodies. How do we avoid immune responses against every food?
Reading: Oral tolerance to food protein O Pabst and AM Mowat 2012. Mucosal Immunology
Thursday November 3
12. The invention of cuisine
mash, ferment and cook
Reading: Humans as Cucinivores. Furness & Bravo. 2015 J. Comp Physiology B
Tuesday November 8
13. Fire on demand
Fire technology: using occasional fire versus fire on demand
Reading: The human dimension of fire regimes on Earth. David M. J. S. et al. Journal of Biogeography (2011) 38, 2223–2236
Thursday November 10
14. Farming, its promise and its price
The last interglacial and the independent invention of farming around the world.
Reading: The agricultural revolution as environmental catastrophe: Implications for health and lifestyle in the Holocene Clark Spencer Larsen. 2006 .Quaternary International 150: 12–20
Tuesday November 15
15. The Story of Sugar
Primates are destined to love sugar.
Reading: Gagneux, P. Sweetness in Human Evolution. 2015. Oxford Companion to Sweets. Oxford University Press. Darra Goldstein Editor.
Thursday November 17
16. Industrial food production
From small farm gardens and fields to global agribusiness and industry
Reading: The Industrial Food Stream and its Alternatives in the United States: An Introduction Mark A. Grey. 2000. Human organization
Tuesday November 22
17. Let them eat Cake!
Feeding the masses, making profit and the global health crisis
Reading: The global obesity pandemic: shaped by global drivers and local environments Boyd A Swinburn, Gary Sacks, Kevin D Hall, Klim McPherson, Diane T Finegood, Marjory L Moodie, Steven L Gortmaker. 2011. Lancet
Thursday November 24
No Class Thanksgiving
Tuesday November 29
18. The future of Food
Feeding the masses, making profit and the global health crisis: 9 billion plus mouths to feed…..what are our options?
Reading: Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health. Anthony J McMichael, John W Powles, Colin D Butler, Ricardo Uauy. 2007. Lancet
Thursday December 2
18. Recap: Humans and their Food
Tuesday December 6
20. FINAL EXAM:
Cumulative, short answer questions, (not multiple choice)
Statement on Academic Integrity:
“Academic Integrity is expected of everyone at UC San Diego. This means that you must be honest, fair, responsible, respectful, and trustworthy in all of your actions. Lying, cheating or any other forms of dishonesty will not be tolerated because they undermine learning and the University’s ability to certify students’ knowledge and abilities. Thus, any attempt to get, or help another get, a grade by cheating, lying or dishonesty will be reported to the Academic Integrity Office and will result sanctions. Sanctions can include an F in this class and suspension or dismissal from the University. So, think carefully before you act. Before you act ask yourself the following questions: a) is my action honest, fair, respectful, responsible & trustworthy and, b) is my action authorized by the instructor? If you are unsure, don’t ask a friend—ask your instructor, instructional assistant, or the Academic Integrity Office. You can learn more about academic integrity at academicintegrity.ucsd.edu” (Source: Tricia Bertram Gallant, Ph.D., UCSD Academic Integrity Office, 2017)