The evolution of the control of food intake

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 maxim...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 2002-11, Vol.61 (4), p.465-472
Main Authors: Illius, A. W., Tolkamp, B. J., Yearsley, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Behavior Control
Biological Evolution
Biology
Cost-benefit
Eating - physiology
Environment
Evolution
Fitness
Food
Food intake
Foraging behavior
Genotype
Homeostasis
Humans
Linear programming
Nutrition research
Physical Fitness
Physiology
Symposium on ‘Perspectives in the study of food intake’
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0029-6651
1475-2719
DOI:10.1079/PNS2002179