Adaptation, allometry, and hypertension.
- 1 August 1994
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Hypertension
- Vol. 24 (2), 145-156
- https://doi.org/10.1161/01.hyp.24.2.145
Abstract
Essential hypertension is a "disease of civiliza- tion" but has a clear genetic component. From an evolutionary perspective, persistence in the human genome of elements capable of raising blood pressure presupposes their adaptive significance. Recently, two hypotheses that explicitly appeal to selectionist arguments, the "slavery" and "thrifty gene" theo- ries, have been forwarded. We find neither completely suc- cessful, and we advance an alternative explanation of the adaptive importance of genes responsible for hypertension. We propose that blood pressure rises during childhood and adolescence to subserve homeostatic needs of the organism. Specifically, we contend that blood pressure is a flexible element in the repertoire of renal homeostatic mechanisms serving to match renal function to growth. The effect of modern diet and lifestyle on human growth stimulates earlier and more vigorous development, straining biologically neces- sary relationships between renal and general somatic growthKeywords
This publication has 39 references indexed in Scilit:
- Longitudinal assessment of blood pressures in black and white children.Hypertension, 1993
- An evolutionary perspective on salt, hypertension, and human genetic variability.Hypertension, 1991
- Biohistory of slavery and blood pressure differences in blacks today. A hypothesis.Hypertension, 1991
- Brief angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor treatment in young spontaneously hypertensive rats reduces blood pressure long-term.Hypertension, 1990
- Stone agers in the fast lane: Chronic degenerative diseases in evolutionary perspectiveAmerican Journal Of Medicine, 1988
- The relationship between growth and allometryJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1985
- Factors related to tracking of blood pressure in children. U.S. National Center for Health Statistics Health Examination Surveys Cycles II and III.Hypertension, 1984
- Remission of Essential Hypertension after Renal TransplantationNew England Journal of Medicine, 1983
- The parameters of the ageing kidneyThe Journal of Pathology, 1973
- Glomerular filtration rate, effective renal bloodflow, and maximal tubular excretory capacity in infancyThe Journal of Pediatrics, 1948