The evolution of the control of food intake

AW Illius, BJ Tolkamp, J Yearsley - Proceedings of the Nutrition …, 2002 - cambridge.org
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 2002cambridge.org
The ultimate goal of an organism is to maximise its inclusive fitness, and an important sub-
goal must be the optimisation of the lifetime pattern of food intake, in order to meet the
nutrient demands of survival, growth and reproduction. The conventional assumption that
fitness is maximised by maximising daily food intake, subject to physical and physiological
constraints, has been challenged recently. Instead, it can be argued that fitness is
maximised by balancing benefits and costs over the organism's lifetime. The fitness benefits …
The ultimate goal of an organism is to maximise its inclusive fitness, and an important sub-goal must be the optimisation of the lifetime pattern of food intake, in order to meet the nutrient demands of survival, growth and reproduction. The conventional assumption that fitness is maximised by maximising daily food intake, subject to physical and physiological constraints, has been challenged recently. Instead, it can be argued that fitness is maximised by balancing benefits and costs over the organism's lifetime. The fitness benefits of food intake are a function of its contribution to survival, growth (including necessary body reserves) and reproduction. Against these benefits must be set costs. These costs include not only extrinsic foraging costs and risks, such as those due to predation, but also intrinsic costs associated with food intake, such as obesity and oxidative metabolism that may reduce vitality and lifespan. We argue that the aggregate of benefits and costs form the fitness function of food intake and present examples of such an approach to predicting optimal food intake.
Cambridge University Press
以上显示的是最相近的搜索结果。 查看全部搜索结果