The Nature of Nutrition: A Unifying Framework from Animal Adaptation to Human Obesity

"Debates continue to rage about what diet is best, in part because an underlying theoretical framework for choosing one over another has been lacking. Not so any longer. "The Nature of Nutrition" demystifies the complexity of nutrition and diet choice and shows why people and other creatures eat the way they do. Along the way, readers learn about the adaptive value of cannibalism, the impact of diet on sex lives, how dietary choices affect entire ecosystems, and so much more."--Daniel Rubenstein, Princeton University ""The Nature of Nutrition" is a must-read for anyone interested in the role nutrition plays in the survival of the fittest. Starting with the "Origin of Species," Simpson and Raubenheimer guide us through the nutritional strategies that maintained reproductive health and mating behaviors despite periods of food shortage and danger from predators. The protein leverage hypothesis provides a solid foundation to explain the growing global epidemic of human obesity."--Eric Ravussin, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System "A fascinating and authoritative treatment of nutrition in an ecological and evolutionary framework. Simpson and Raubenheimer's novel perspective crosses disciplines, from the organism to the population to the ecosystem, providing a long-needed unifying framework to what has previously largely been the domain of clinical science."--Simon A. Levin, Princeton University "This outstanding book provides the first comprehensive theoretical framework for analyzing the roles of nutrition across a huge swath of fields, from ecology and evolution to conservation and human health." The Nature of Nutrition" is creative and scholarly yet approachable. I know of no other book like it."--Bernard J. Crespi, Simon Fraser University ""The Nature of Nutrition" covers a vast range of issues, from reproduction, immunology, and toxicology to insect migration, population ecology, predator-prey interactions, and ecosystem functioning, as well as applied issues such as conservation biology and human nutritional pathologies. I enjoyed each and every chapter of this excellent book."--Kenneth Wilson, Lancaster University