Anthropology

             On Diet and Gut Size in Non-human Primates and Humans: Is there a Relationship to Brain Size?
             Aiello and Wheeler were the first to enter the idea of "expensive-tissue hypothesis." "This hypothesis generally focused on the shift to a high-quality diet and the corresponding gut adaption suggesting that a reduced intestinal mass, by considerably lowering relative energetic cost, may release sufficient energy to cover the extra expenditure of a larger brain." (Aiello & Wheeler) The new hypothesis gave new ideas to the debate on the relationship between diet, energetics, and encephalization. But Aiello and Wheeler agreed that the main argument has flaws.
             Instead of using "gut areas," Aiello and Wheeler used weights. The comparison of gut absorptive areas of animals differing in body size would seem to reflect different allometric relationships. The men used many animals, but no humans have yet to be an example.
             Pappenheimer recently conducted "a study on the significance of absorptive mechanisms in relation to scaling of the dimensions of small intestines goes one step farther." (Aiello & Wheeler) Transcellular absorption is lower in large species than in small species, whereas paracellular fluid absorption is greater.
             Leonard and Robertson said, "in anthropoids energy expenditure is positively correlated with lengths of day range and quality of diet.
             "The large variations currently observed in human diets are probably allowed by out gut morphopology as unspecialized 'frugivores,' a flexibility allowing Pygmies, Inuit, and several other populations, present and past, to feed extensively on animal matter, deriving most of their energy from fat. (Aiello & Wheeler)
             "Aiello's and Wheeler's main point is based on the relationship between body mass and basal metabolic rate (BMR): the Kleiber line, characterizing the relationship between B...

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Anthropology. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 04:50, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/16639.html