The rich, volcanic soils of the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro support a dense population of rural farmers. Most residents of the Machame area of Kilimanjaro are members of the Chagga ethnic group. Most Chagga households farm bananas, and many keep cattle, sheep, and goats. Infectious diseases are common for children living in Machame. The Child Health and Development in Kilimanjaro project evaluates hypothesized developmental, dietary, and other adaptations to this high burden of infectious disease during childhood, and their impact on children’s health.

Iron and Infectious Diseases

Iron nutrition is both affected by infectious disease processes and a factor affecting risk for infectious disease. Humans have been in a long arms race with infectious agents, like the malaria parasite and many bacteria, over access to host iron. Because infectious agents have become very adept at extracting host iron, a diet resulting in mild-to-moderate iron deficiency may be an effective way to decrease risk for infectious disease.

This project monitored children over the course of one year for common infectious diseases, iron deficiency, and anemia. Laboratory analyses are currently underway. These data will allow us to evaluate: the importance of infectious (e.g., hookworm) and dietary causes of iron deficiency; whether mild-to-moderate iron deficiency decreases risk for infectious diseases (e.g., malaria or bacterial infection); and, whether mild-to-moderate iron deficiency adversely affects other aspects of children’s health and fitness (e.g., cognitive development). This assessment of mild-to-moderate iron deficiency’s potential costs and benefits will allow us to provide a nuanced assessment of the hypothesis that iron deficiency may constitute a nutritional adaptation to infectious disease.

PIs: Katherine Wander, Blandina Mmbaga

Funding: National Science Foundation (Biological Anthropology Senior Research Award)

The Immune System of Milk

Milk not only provides infants’ nutrition, it also contains its own immune system (immune cells, antibodies, antimicrobial factors, and immune cell communication molecules), which protects infants against infectious diseases and shapes their immune development. Rather than measure individual immune system components in milk, we developed a protocol to measure immune responses in milk, via in vitro stimulation. This project characterized milk immune responses among healthy mother-infant pairs at the outset of cold and flu season in Kilimanjaro, and monitored infants for infectious diseases, when milk immune responses were characterized for a second time. Our initial papers have tested whether “stronger” immune responses (those involving more pro-inflammatory cytokine production) protect children against infectious diseases and whether the immune system of milk mounts stronger responses when infants are sick.

PI: Katherine Wander

Funding: The Wenner-Gren Foundation, The Leakey Foundation, The American Philosophical Society, Binghamton University

News Medical coverage of our research

The primary economy in Matlab consists of farming and fishing, supplemented by day labor, small business, and remittances from family members. Reliance on subsistence agriculture has been decreasing since the 1980s, while full-time wage labor, which often means migrating long distances and living outside of Matlab, has recently been increasing, leading to rapidly increasing market integration for many households. These economic and subsistence changes have affected many aspects of people’s lives in Matlab. Bangladesh still suffers from high rates of malnutrition, tuberculosis, and diarrheal disease, and early signs indicate the emergence of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, in Matlab, as well. This project characterized demographic, nutritional, and health outcomes (including under- and over-nutrition, iron deficiency, anemia, hypertension, insulin resistance, and inflammation) across communities and households that vary in their degree of participation in markets. We are using these data to understand how market integration—and attendant changes in diets, social support, and inequality—affect nutrition and chronic disease risk. We have found that international labor migration has both pros and cons for the health of migrants’ wives.

PI: Mary Shenk

Funding: The National Science Foundation (Cultural Anthropology)

The Mosuo farmers are an ethnic minority living in the Hengduan Mountains in Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces of Southwest China. Some Mosuo have capitalized on the tourism industry around Lugu Lake, and an increasing minority of families are gaining much of their income from tourism. The construction in 2015 of an airport near the main tourist area is increasing the impact of tourism. Large disparities in household income have already accompanied the transition away from agricultural subsistence among communities closest to Lugu Lake and most reliant on tourism. This project characterized nutritional and health outcomes (including under- and over-nutrition, iron deficiency, anemia, hypertension, insulin resistance, and inflammation) across Mosuo communities and households. We are using these data to understand how market integration affects nutrition and chronic disease risk. The Mosuo’s unique kinship traditions, wherein some communities are characterized primarily by matriliny and others and others primarily patriliny, will allow us to further evaluate how differences in community social structure and kinship affect the impact of market integration on nutrition and chronic disease risk. We have also found that chronic diseases among the Mosuo—particularly hypertension—may be affected by high altitude adaptations common to Himalayan populations.

PI: Siobhan Mattison

Funding: The National Science Foundation (Cultural Anthropology)

Inverse coverage of our research

More Inverse coverage of our research

The islands of the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu are economically and socially diverse, with tremendous differences in kinship, subsistence, religion, language, infrastructure, and participation in markets across islands. Comparisons across islands allow our projects to explore how these differences affect health and well-being.

Health Transitions

The Vanuatu health transitions project uses differences in economic development and market integration across islands to study the hypothesized epidemiological transition—from primarily infectious to primarily chronic disease—in detail. We have collected information about body composition and adiposity, inflammation, physiological and psychosocial stress, infectious diseases (such as malaria), and chronic diseases (such as diabetes). These data will allow us to test hypotheses about how disease risk differs across islands (and thus degrees of market integration or economic development).

PIs: Kathryn Olszowy, Kelsey Dancause

Funding: The Wenner-Gren Foundation

Adoption and Family Size

The Evolutionary significance of adoption and family size project explores family composition diversity across the islands of Vanuatu. Family size is an important and complex component of children’s well-being—more children can demand more resources, but can also be critical to food production. A trend toward smaller family size with increasing access to markets and formal education is often assumed to be universal, but actual drivers of the decisions families make in building their households remain poorly understood. This project investigates the widespread practice of adoption and fosterage, as well as total family and household size, as components of this process. We carefully and systematically test whether and how family size and adoption patterns fit with evolutionary theory and impact children’s health. Data collection is currently underway.

PIs: Katherine Wander, Siobhan Mattison, Ian Wallace, Mary Towner

Funding: The National Science Foundation (Cultural Anthropology; Build & Broaden)