The Origins of Human Diet and Medicine: Chemical EcologyUniversity of Arizona Press, 1 ene 1996 - 356 páginas People have always been attracted to foods rich in calories, fat, and protein; yet the biblical admonition that meat be eaten "with bitter herbs" suggests that unpalatable plants play an important role in our diet. So-called primitive peoples show a surprisingly sophisticated understanding of how their bodies interact with plant chemicals, which may allow us to rediscover the origins of diet by retracing the paths of biology and culture. The domestication of the potato serves as the focus of Timothy Johns's interdisciplinary study, which forges a bold synthesis of ethnobotany and chemical ecology. The Aymara of highland Bolivia have long used varieties of potato containing potentially toxic levels of glycoalkaloids, and Johns proposes that such plants can be eaten without harm owing to human genetic modification and cultural manipulation. Drawing on additional fieldwork in Africa, he considers the evolution of the human use of plants, the ways in which humans obtain foods from among the myriad poisonous and unpalatable plants in the environment, and the consequences of this history for understanding the basis of the human diet. A natural corollary to his investigation is the origin of medicine, since the properties of plants that make them unpalatable and toxic are the same properties that make them useful pharmacologically. As our species has adapted to the use of plants, plants have become an essential part of our internal ecology. Recovering the ancient wisdom regarding our interaction with the environment preserves a fundamental part of our human heritage. |
Índice
A Model of Human Chemical Ecology | 1 |
Biological Adaptations for Dealing with Plant Toxins | 33 |
Technological Methods of Detoxification | 71 |
Domestication as a Solution for Dealing with Plant | 101 |
Human Perception Cognition and Behavior | 160 |
Reconsidering the Model of Human Chemical Ecology | 195 |
Plant Chemical Defenses as Determinants of | 210 |
The Dietary Basis for the Origin of Human Medicine | 251 |
Appendix 1 | 293 |
Bibliography | 305 |
339 | |
Otras ediciones - Ver todo
The Origins of Human Diet and Medicine: Chemical Ecology Timothy Johns Vista previa restringida - 1990 |
The Origins of Human Diet and Medicine: Chemical Ecology Timothy Johns Vista previa restringida - 1996 |
Términos y frases comunes
acaule acid adaptation adsorption Africa aglycones ajanhuiri Ajawiri Marka alkaloids allelochemicals altiplano Andean animals associated aversions Aymara behavior biological bitter chapter chemical ecology chemical selection chimpanzees chuño clay clones constituents consumed consumption crop cucurbitacins cultigens cultivated potatoes cultural cyanogenic glycosides detoxication detoxification dietary differences digestive diploid discussed disease domestication drugs effects environment enzymes ethnobotany evolution evolutionary factors feeding flavonoids flavor gastrointestinal gatherer/hunters genetic geophagy glucosinolates glycoalkaloid content glycoalkaloids herbal herbivores hominids human diet human selection hybrid important ingestion insects interactions Johns and Keen juzepczukii medicine megistacrolobum metabolism modern natural nutrients nutritional organisms parasites particular patterns pharmacological physiological plant allelochemicals plant chemicals plant foods poisoning populations potatoes preference primates protein receptors relation response role saponins secondary compounds seed sensory sisu Solanum sour species stenotomum studies substances sweet tannins taxonomy techniques tion tomatine total glycoalkaloids toxic toxins traditional tubers varieties weed wild potatoes xenobiotics yari