Transcript Nutritional Anthropology - California State University

Chapter 5: Ecology and Economics of Nutrition

The biological forces and social forces that
shape:
– human food use
– nutritional status of individuals and populations
Variables to be discussed

Physical environment
 Social environment
 Social organization
 Technology
 Culture
Physical Environment
Climate
Water resources
Soil characteristics
Indigenous animals and plants
Social Environment
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Food procurement and distribution by:
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Other societies
Other regions
Other communities
How do these factors affect the diet in the study
community?
Social Organization
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Structure and organization of the household
 Political and economic structure as they
pertain to food through:
– Production
– Distribution
– Consumption
Technology
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Tools and techniques
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–
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Production
Distribution
Acquisition
Storage
Consumption
Culture (idea systems)
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Food preferences and restrictions
 Use of food in social interactions
 Religious beliefs
 Ideas about health
Subsistence Systems

Hunting-Gathering
 Pastoralist
 Agricultural
– Horticultural (gardening, hoe)
– Advanced (plow)
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Industrial Agricultural
Core Characteristics of Human
Food Patterns
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Extremely omnivorous diet
 At least some cooking
 More time consuming preparation
 Elaborate food distribution, sharing, and
exchange patterns
 Food prohibitions and food preferences
Hunting and Gathering

Most of human history
 Collect food from land and water but not
cultivating
 Distribution of food affected social
organization: small groups, seminomadic,
used large land area, population density low,
population growth slow
Hunting and Gathering cont.
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Diversity in types of food consumed
 Diversity in ratio of animal to vegetable
 General nutritional status good to excellent
 Seasonal food shortage a problem, this
varies with environment
 Chronic malnutrition and deficiency
diseases rare
Pastoralism

Subsistence based on herd animals
 Two types: Nomadic, Seminomadic
 Nomads
– No permanent houses
– No agriculture

Seminomads
– Live in settlements
– Some individuals cultivate crops
Pastoralism cont.

Milk is important part of diet
 Practiced for 3000 years
 Today this strategy is less viable due to
political and economic constraints
Agricultural

Beginning 12,000 to 15,000 years ago
 By 2000 years ago a large proportion of
world’s population completely dependent
on agriculture
“Agricultural Revolution”

Major changes in diet, nutrition, and health
 Social and technological changes
 Changes in human societies
Horticultural
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Also called gardening systems
Use hoe rather than plow
No irrigation
Household consumption
No commercial sale
Household is production unit
Little interdependence with other groups
No expanded market networks
Agriculture
Use of plow
 Irrigation
 Class of producers – peasants
 Only some producers
 Other elites who control production
 Malnutrition hits rural producers hardest
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Cash Cropping
Industrialization of food production and
food preparation
 Changes in household production
 Changes in culture
 Changes in environment
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Leisure Time
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Women
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Resting
Crafts
Visiting other camps
Receiving visitors from other camps
Kitchen chores
• Cooking, nut cracking, collecting firewood, hauling
water
Leisure Time cont.
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Men
– Visiting
– Entertaining
– Dancing
Estimating Nutritional Status
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Average consumption of calories and proteins/person/day
Estimated RDA (based on body size and activity level)
– 1,975 calories
– 60 grams protein
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Observed Kung
– 2,140 calories
– 93.1 grams protein
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Observed Achuar
– 3,408 calories (4,557)
– 104.5 grams protein (162)
Hunting Versus Gathering
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Hunting is high risk, low return
 Gathering is low risk, high return
 With the Kung, gathering is 2.4 times more
productive than hunting
Food Preferences and the
Cost of Food
1000 calories of meat “costs” 10 man-hours
 1000 calories of vegetable foods “costs”
four man-hours
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Review of Subsistence Strategies
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The Kung have been extremely successful,
in part, because of the heavy reliance on
vegetable food sources
 Is this a common pattern?
– From a sample of 58 societies
– 100 % dependence on hunting and gathering
• 29 cases (50%) emphasize gathering
• 18 cases (33%) emphasize fishing
• 11 cases (17%) emphasize hunting