A biocultural examination of home food production and child growth in highland Peru

"Rigorous and Systematic Qualitative Data Analysis in Biological Anthropology"

Biological anthropologists have long engaged in qualitative data analysis (QDA), though such work is not always foregrounded. In this article, we discuss the role of rigorous and systematic QDA in biological anthropology and consider how it can be understood and advanced. We first establish what kinds of qualitative data and analysis are used in biological anthropology. We then review the ways QDA has been used in six subfields of biological anthropology: primatology, human biology, paleoanthropology, dental and skeletal biology, bioarchaeology, and anthropological genetics. We follow that with an overview of how to use QDA methods: three simple QDA methods (i.e., word-based analysis, theme analysis, and coding) and three QDA approaches for model-building and model-testing (i.e., content analysis, semantic network analysis, and grounded theory). With this foundation in place, we discuss how QDA can support transformative research in biological anthropology-emphasizing the valuable role of QDA in inductive and community-based research. We discuss how QDA supports transformative research using mixed-methods research designs, participatory action research, and abolition and Black feminist research. Finally, we consider how to close a QDA project, reflecting on the logistics, ethics, and limitations of qualitative data sharing, including how researchers can use the CARE Principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics) to support Indigenous data sovereignty.

The now and future of human biology at the extremes: An introduction to the special issue

OBJECTIVES

A hallmark of the human species is our adaptability to a wide range of different ecologies and ecosystems, including some of the most extreme settings. Human biologists have long studied how humans have successfully (and sometimes unsuccessfully) adapted to such extremes, particularly ecological extremes like environments at lower limits of temperature and high altitude. In this special issue, we revisit traditional definitions and explore new conceptions of work in extreme environments. We argue that our definitions of extremes should change with our changing world, and account for extremes unique to the Anthropocene, including environments of inequality and precarity, pandemic landscapes, climate-impacted settings, obesogenic environments, and the environments of human spaceflight. We also explore the future of work at the extremes and provide some suggested guidelines on how human biologists can continue to build and expand on foundational work in this area.

CONCLUSION

While human biologists have done critical work on groups living in extreme environments, our definitions of humans at the limits continue to change as the world around us also changes. Scholars in this area have a responsibility to re-examine the parameters of extremes to stay at the forefront of scientific exploration and collaboration so human biology, as a discipline, can continue to shape our understanding of adaptability, and thus contribute to the continued thriving of all humans as we endure new climatic, environmental, and societal extremes.

Human biology and the study of precarity: How the intersection of uncertainty and inequality is taking us to new extremes

Inequality represents an extreme environment to which humans must respond. One phenomenon that contributes to this growing extreme is precarity or the intersection of uncertainty and some form of inequality. While precarity has an important intellectual history in the fields of sociology and sociocultural anthropology, it has not been well studied in the field of human biology. Rather human biologists have engaged with the study of closely related concepts such as uncertainty and resource insecurity. In this article, we propose that human biology take on the study of precarity as a novel way of investigating inequality. We first provide a brief intellectual history of precarity which is followed by a review of research on uncertainty and resource security in human biology which, while not exhaustive, illustrates some key gaps that precarity may aid us in addressing. We then review some of the pathways through which precarity comes to affect human biology and health and some of the evidence for why the unpredictable nature of precarity may make it a unique physiological stress. A case study based on research in Nuñoa, Peru provides an important example of how precarity can elucidate the influences of health in an extreme setting, albeit with insights that apply more broadly. We conclude that precarity holds important potential for the study of human biology, including helping us more effectively operationalize and study uncertainty, encouraging us to explore the predictability of resources and stressors, and reminding us to think about the intersectional nature of stressors.

The relationship between diet/nutrition and the mental health of immigrants in Western societies through a holistic bio-psycho-socio-cultural lens: A scoping review

Epidemiological evidence suggests that diet and nutrition not only impact individuals' physical health but also shape their mental health (MH). The nutrition/diet-MH relationship may be critical among immigrants due to socioeconomic and sociocultural factors. Despite the complex nutrition/diet-MH relationship, most scholarship in this area employs a biomedical perspective. This scoping review of 63 studies deployed a holistic bio-psycho-socio-cultural framework to examine the relationship between diet/nutrition and immigrants' MH. Five automated databases (Embase, PubMed, Medline, PsycINFO and Anthropology Plus) were systematically searched for relevant articles from Western countries. A bio-psycho-socio-cultural conceptual model guided the analysis of the multi-faceted diet/nutrition-MH relationship. Consumption of fruit/vegetables, unsaturated fats, vitamin D-rich foods and whole grains was significantly positively related to MH. Reported pathways included enhanced self-esteem and ability to stay physically active. Energy-dense food consumption emanating from unhealthful dietary acculturation to the Western lifestyle was associated with poor MH through various mechanisms, including exhaustion and worry about developing non-communicable diseases. Food insecurity and related hunger were significantly positively associated with depression and anxiety among immigrants through different pathways, including family conflicts, homesickness, social exclusion, feelings of shame/stigma, and helplessness related to not affording nutritious foods that meet one's cultural dietary requirements. Ethnic food consumption appeared to mitigate MH issues and enhance immigrants' well-being. A bio-psycho-socio-cultural-informed model is needed to gain an in-depth and encompassing understanding of immigrant MH as it relates to diet/nutrition. The first iteration of such a model is presented in this review alongside an illustration of how it may be used to strengthen an analysis and understanding of the multi-faceted diet/nutrition-MH relationship amongst immigrants and inform public health professionals and dieticians/practitioners.

Socioeconomic impacts on Andean adolescents’ growth

Background/Objectives

We evaluated potential socioeconomic contributors to variation in Andean adolescents’ growth between households within a peri-urban community undergoing rapid demographic and economic change, between different community types (rural, peri-urban, urban) and over time. Because growth monitoring is widely used for assessing community needs and progress, we compared the prevalences of stunting, underweight, and overweight estimated by three different growth references.

Methods

Anthropometrics of 101 El Alto, Bolivia, adolescents (Alteños), 11.0–14.9 years old in 2003, were compared between households (economic status assessed by parental occupations); to one urban and two rural samples collected in 1983/1998/1977, respectively; and to the WHO growth reference, a representative sample of Bolivian children (MESA), and a region-wide sample of high-altitude Peruvian children (Puno).

Results

Female Alteños’ growth was positively associated with household and maternal income indices. Alteños’ height averaged ∼0.8SD/∼0.6SD/∼2SDs greater than adolescents’ height in urban and rural communities measured in 1983/1998/1977, respectively. Overweight prevalence was comparable to the WHO, and lower than MESA and Puno, references. Stunting was 8.5/2.5/0.5 times WHO/MESA/Puno samples, respectively.

Conclusions/Implications

Both peri-urban conditions and temporal trends contributed to gains in Alteños’ growth. Rural out-migration can alleviate migrants’ poverty, partly because of more diverse economic options in urbanized communities, especially for women. Nonetheless, Alteños averaged below WHO and MESA height and weight medians. Evolved biological adaptations to environmental challenges, and the consequent variability in growth trajectories, favor using multiple growth references. Growth monitoring should be informed by community- and household-level studies to detect and understand local factors causing or alleviating health disparities.

Malnutrition, illness, poverty, and infant growth: A test of a syndemic hypothesis in Nuñoa, Peru

The concept of syndemics provides an important framework for understanding the complex interactions of biological and social conditions. Its use in public health and epidemiological research has increased substantially in the past ten years. Many syndemic analyses rely on the use of a sum score and subsequently fail to demonstrate biological interaction, leading some scholars to question the utility of the syndemic approach. Here, we utilize data from 86 mother/infant pairs from the rural district of Nuñoa, Peru to test a potential syndemic relationship among infection, malnutrition and infant growth. Between 2014 and 2015, surveys were conducted to assess household wealth, sanitation, dietary diversity, and reported illness, while anthropometric measures of mothers and infants were conducted to assess nutritional status via height-for-age and weight-for-height z-scores. Ethnographic insight was used in the selection of key economic variables including the development of an agricultural wealth index. We then assessed whether this constellation of health outcomes met the criteria for a syndemic by performing a quantitative analysis in which we tested for (1) an association between economic marginalization and high-risk environments; (2) the concentration of malnutrition, poor growth, and infection; and (3) biological interaction among these health outcomes. We found that economic measures were associated with pathogenic and nutritional risk, and that these in turn were associated with infectious disease, nutritional status, and growth. However, we did not find evidence that the proposed syndemic met criteria (2) or (3). We conclude that, despite being both socially and biologically plausible, a syndemic of malnutrition, poor growth, and infection did not exist in this context. This analysis moves syndemic research forward by demonstrating that such hypotheses are falsifiable, thus presenting a process by which they may be tested and lending support to the use of syndemic theory as an effective analytic framework.