Abstract
Human size is a tradeoff between the evolutionary advantages and disadvantages of being small or big. We now propose that adult size is determined to an important extent during transition from infancy to childhood. This transition is marked by a growth spurt. A delay in the transition has a lifelong impact on stature and is responsible for 44% of children with short stature in developed countries and many more in developing countries. Here, we present the data and theory of an evolutionary adaptive strategy of plasticity in the timing of transition from infancy into childhood to match the prevailing energy supply. We propose that humans have evolved to withstand energy crises by decreasing their body size, and that evolutionary short-term adaptations to energy crises trigger a predictive adaptive response that modify the transition into childhood, culminating in short stature.
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Abbreviations
- DICT:
-
delayed infancy to childhood transition
- GHD:
-
growth hormone deficiency
- IC:
-
infancy-childhood
- ICP:
-
infancy-childhood-puberty
- ISS:
-
idiopathic short stature
- SDS:
-
standard deviation score
- SGA:
-
small for gestational age
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K.A.W. is supported by a Swedish Research Council grant 7905.
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Hochberg, Z., Albertsson-Wikland, K. Evo-Devo of Infantile and Childhood Growth. Pediatr Res 64, 2–7 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e318177590f
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e318177590f
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