The nature of nutrition [electronic resource] : a unifying framework from animal adaptation to human obesity / Stephen J. Simpson and David Raubenheimer.

Cover image for The nature of nutrition [electronic resource] : a unifying framework from animal adaptation to human obesity / Stephen J. Simpson and David Raubenheimer.

ISBN:

9781400842803

9781280494031

Title:

The nature of nutrition [electronic resource] : a unifying framework from animal adaptation to human obesity / Stephen J. Simpson and David Raubenheimer.

Author:

Simpson, Stephen J.

Personal Author:

Simpson, Stephen J.

Publication Information:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2012.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 239 pages)

Contents:

Nutrition and Darwin's entangled bank -- The geometry of nutrition -- Mechanisms of nutritional regulation -- Less food, less sex, live longer? -- Beyond nutrients -- Moving targets -- From individuals to populations and societies -- How does nutrition structure ecosystems? -- Applied nutrition -- The geometry of human nutrition -- Perspectives.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Nutrition.

Nutrition -- Research.

Animal nutrition.

Adaptation (Physiology)

Bioenergetics.

Physiology, Experimental.

Obesity.

Energy metabolism.

Nutritional Physiological Phenomena.

Nutritional Requirements.

Adaptation, Physiological.

Added Author:

Raubenheimer, David, 1960-

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2012

Publication Information:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2012.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
612.3 23	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

The first book to address nutrition's complex role in biology

Nutrition has long been considered more the domain of medicine and agriculture than of the biological sciences, yet it touches and shapes all aspects of the natural world. The need for nutrients determines whether wild animals thrive, how populations evolve and decline, and how ecological communities are structured. The Nature of Nutrition is the first book to address nutrition's enormously complex role in biology, both at the level of individual organisms and in their broader ecological interactions.

Stephen Simpson and David Raubenheimer provide a comprehensive theoretical approach to the analysis of nutrition--the Geometric Framework. They show how it can help us to understand the links between nutrition and the biology of individual animals, including the physiological mechanisms that determine the nutritional interactions of the animal with its environment, and the consequences of these interactions in terms of health, immune responses, and lifespan. Simpson and Raubenheimer explain how these effects translate into the collective behavior of groups and societies, and in turn influence food webs and the structure of ecosystems. Then they demonstrate how the Geometric Framework can be used to tackle issues in applied nutrition, such as the problem of optimizing diets for livestock and endangered species, and how it can also help to address the epidemic of human obesity and metabolic disease.

Drawing on a wealth of examples from slime molds to humans, The Nature of Nutrition has important applications in ecology, evolution, and physiology, and offers promising solutions for human health, conservation, and agriculture.

Author Notes

Stephen J. Simpson is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences and academic director of the Charles Perkins Centre for the Study of Obesity, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease at the University of Sydney. David Raubenheimer is professor of nutritional ecology at Massey University in New Zealand.

Reviews (1)

Choice Review

The geometric framework (GF), introduced into scientific literature a decade ago, brings a new degree of clarity to the discipline of nutrition. Simpson (Univ. of Sydney, Australia) and Raubenheimer (Univ. of New Zealand) highlight species-, habitat-, and trophic-level examples to truly demonstrate the universality of the concepts GF encompasses, providing coherent explanations of numerous interactions and variables--physical, biochemical, chemical, physiological, anatomical--that must be considered when discussing nutrition. Case studies are heavy on invertebrates. Although the limited vertebrate example results were not particularly illuminating, GF provides a very useful technique for evaluating (or predicting) animal responses to complex mixed diets. The pet, livestock, and wildlife applications chapter would have benefitted by additional references to strengthen the authors' points/correlations. Nonetheless, GF clearly links behavioral/feeding ecology with environmental changes/constraints on nutrient resources to meet variable, continually changing physiologic requirements. The authors delightfully take the concepts beyond these most obvious uses, delving into numerous other scientific applications of the technique. Impacts of nutrition on human health and disease--at the population level--are of broad interest, and GF may provide a tool for more rapid discovery in various fields. The authors successfully demonstrate that nutrition serves as a foundation that integrates the biological sciences. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. E. S. Dierenfeld independent scholar