Cabral, Larry G

Mueller, Laurence D

Rose, Michael R

Rutledge, Grant A

Journal of Evolution and Health (Ancestral Health Society Research)

Evolutionary Biology of Diet, Aging, and Mismatch

Rutledge, Grant A.

Mueller, Laurence D.

Cabral, Larry G.

Rose, Michael R.

eScholarship - University of California

UCLAJournal of Evolution and Health: A joint publication of the Ancestral Health Society and the Society for Evolutionary Medicine and HealthTitleEvolutionary Biology of Diet, Aging, and MismatchPermalinkhttps://escholarship.org/uc/item/738828jjJournalJournal of Evolution and Health: A joint publication of the Ancestral Health Society and the Society for Evolutionary Medicine and Health, 3(1)AuthorsRutledge, Grant A.Mueller, Laurence D.Cabral, Larry G.et al.Publication Date2018DOI10.15310/2334-3591.1103 Peer reviewedeScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital LibraryUniversity of California 1 “Evolutionary Biology of Diet, Aging, and Mismatch”   Grant A. Rutledge1,2*, Laurence D. Mueller1, Larry G. Cabral1, Michael R. Rose1  1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine CA 92697-2525 2 USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston MA 02111  *Corresponding author. E-mail: grant.rutledge@tufts.edu; tel: +1-858-243-4768   Keywords: Hamiltonian, Age-dependent Adaptation, Drosophila, Diet    1Rutledge et al.: Evolutionary Biology of Diet, Aging, and MismatchPublished by Journal of Evolution and Health, 2018 2 Introduction A variety of anthropologists and physicians claim that the health of present-day humans would be enhanced by reversion to “Paleo” diets [1-4].  Paleo-enthusiasts argue that our recent dependence on foods derived from grass species (e.g. wheat, corn, rice) and milk from ungulates exacerbates such chronic disorders as obesity, type two diabetes, and gut disorders such as Crohn’s disease (e.g. [1,2]).  On the other hand, Zuk [5] has proposed that there are no health benefits to be achieved from reverting to Paleolithic diets for most inhabitants of industrialized countries, because there has been sufficient time for human adaptation to agriculture. Our hypothesis is that when adaptation to a novel environment is at least somewhat age-specific, then natural selection will produce more rapid adaptation at early ages compared to later ages, due to the weaker forces of natural selection at later ages [6, pp. 136-40]. Thus when humans with long-agricultural ancestry are young, they are well adapted to agricultural diets and activity patterns.  But at later adult ages, with enough age-specificity of the alleles that established our adaptation to agriculture, humans may lose their ability to digest agricultural foods or to cope with the patterns of physical labor characteristic of agricultural life. We call this the “Hamiltonian hypothesis”.    A Laboratory Paradigm for Testing our Hypothesis Since the summer of 1981, we have maintained fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) populations exclusively on medium that contains banana and high-sugar syrups as the chief substrates [7]. The wild Drosophila population from which these laboratory populations were derived is that of Northeastern United States; the local agricultural setting is one that has featured apples as the chief cultivated fruit for centuries [8].  Thus we have a laboratory paradigm that features one long-standing dietary regime, dominated by apple rot, being replaced with another long-standing dietary regime, banana with live yeast. To further study patterns of adaptation to novel environments, we imposed a novel dietary regime on these flies. The entirely novel dietary regime features oranges as the chief substrate.   If our hypothesis is correct, then we expect our lab populations to fare as well or better on banana as on apple at early ages.  But at much later ages, the flies should do better on apple medium, when adaptation to banana should fade. On the other hand, flies on banana should outperform flies on the evolutionarily novel orange food at early ages. Only at later ages should flies given the banana diet do as poorly as flies given the orange diet.  Experimental Results  Age-specific survivorship (px) and fecundity (mx) were monitored in female flies exposed to the three diets. The product of these two variables (pxmx) gives an overall estimate of how cohorts of females are functioning at each age.  Banana versus apple diets: Flies performed roughly similarly on the banana and apple diets at ages up to ~26 days from egg (Figure 1; [9]). After that age, flies on the banana diet suffered reduced performance compared to flies on apple medium, with the difference growing with age.  Orange versus banana diets:  Flies performed better on the banana diet compared to the orange diet at ages up to ~28 days from egg.  After that age, flies on the two diets performed similarly (Figure 2; [9]).  2Journal of Evolution and Health, Vol. 3 [2018], Iss. 1, Art. 1https://jevohealth.com/journal/vol3/iss1/1DOI: 10.15310/2334-3591.1103 3  Figure 1. Fly performance (pxmx) on the apple and banana diets. Red lines represent linear regressions from the apple-fed flies. Blue lines represent linear regressions from the banana-fed flies.  Flies given the apple diet perform similarly at early ages, but significantly better at later ages compared to flies given the banana diet.    Figure 2. Fly performance (pxmx) on the banana and orange diets. Blue lines represent linear regressions from the banana-fed flies. Orange lines represent linear regressions from the orange-fed flies.   Flies given the banana diet perform significantly better at early ages, but similarly at later ages compared to flies given the orange diet.    10 15 20 25 30 35 40051015Age from egg (days)px mx10 15 20 25 30 35 40051015Age from egg (days)px mx3Rutledge et al.: Evolutionary Biology of Diet, Aging, and MismatchPublished by Journal of Evolution and Health, 2018 4 Discussion The findings displayed in Figures 1 and 2 were obtained from fruit flies that had an inadvertent dietary transition during their evolution.  But they still test whether populations show age-dependent adaptation to diet.  As we expected, younger flies fare well on their evolutionarily recent banana diet, while older adult flies fare better on medium that is relatively more like their evolutionarily ancestral apple diet.  These experiments show that age-specific adaptation to a novel diet proceeds faster  early in life compared to late in adult life.   Our results suggest that young people from populations with long histories of agriculture may be well adapted to agricultural diets.  But at later ages, such adaptation to agricultural life may fail.                    4Journal of Evolution and Health, Vol. 3 [2018], Iss. 1, Art. 1https://jevohealth.com/journal/vol3/iss1/1DOI: 10.15310/2334-3591.1103 5 REFERENCES [1] Eaton SB, Konner M (1985) Paleolithic nutrition. A consideration of its nature and current implications. New England Journal of Medicine 312: 283-289  [2] O’Keefe JH, Cordain L (2004) Cardiovascular Disease Resulting From a Diet and Lifestyle at Odds With Our Paleolithic Genome: How to Become a 21st- Century Hunter-Gatherer. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 79:101-108  [3] Jönsson T, Granfeldt Y, Ahrén B, Branell U, Pålsson G, Hansson A, Söderström M, and Lindeberg S (2009) Beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes: a randomized cross-over pilot study. Cardiovascular Diabetology 8:35  [4] Lindeberg S (2010) Food and Western Disease: Health and Nutrition from an Evolutionary Perspective. John Wiley, New York.  [5] Zuk M (2013) What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live. W. W. Norton & Company, New York.  [6] Mueller LD, Rose MR, Rauser CL (2011) Does Aging Stop? Oxford University Press, New York.  [7] Rose MR, Passananti HB, Matos M (2004) Methuselah Flies: A Case Study in the Evolution of Aging. World Scientific Publishing, Singapore.  [8] Ives P (1970) Further Genetic Studies of the South Amherst Population of Drosophila Melanogaster. Evolution 24:507-518.  [9] Rutledge GA (2018) Evolutionary Biology of Diet, Aging, and Mismatch (Doctoral Thesis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA). In. press            5Rutledge et al.: Evolutionary Biology of Diet, Aging, and MismatchPublished by Journal of Evolution and Health, 2018

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Evolutionary Biology of Diet, Aging, and Mismatch

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