Abstract
Reproductive experiences for women in today's affluent Western nations differ from those of women in hunting and gathering societies, who continue the ancestral human pattern. These differences parallel commonly accepted reproductive risk factors for cancers of the breast, endometrium and ovary. Nutritional practices, exercise requirements, and body composition are nonreproductive influences that have been proposed as additional factors affecting the incidence of women's cancers. In each case, these would further increase risk for women in industrialized countries relative to forager women. Lifestyles and reproductive patterns new from an evolutionary perspective may promote women's cancers. Calculations based on a theoretical model suggest that, to age 60, modern Western women have a breast cancer risk as much as 100 times that of preagricultural women.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 353-366 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Quarterly Review of Biology |
| Volume | 69 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| State | Published - Sep 1994 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
Cite this
Women's reproductive cancers in evolutionary context. / Eaton, S. Boyd; Pike, Malcolm C.; Short, Roger V.; Lee, Nancy C.; Trussell, James; Hatcher, Robert A.; Wood, James W.; Worthman, Carol M.; Blurton Jones, Nicholas G.; Konner, Melvin J.; Hill, Kim; Bailey, Robert; Hurtado, Ana.
In: Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 69, No. 3, 09.1994, p. 353-366.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Women's reproductive cancers in evolutionary context
AU - Eaton, S. Boyd
AU - Pike, Malcolm C.
AU - Short, Roger V.
AU - Lee, Nancy C.
AU - Trussell, James
AU - Hatcher, Robert A.
AU - Wood, James W.
AU - Worthman, Carol M.
AU - Blurton Jones, Nicholas G.
AU - Konner, Melvin J.
AU - Hill, Kim
AU - Bailey, Robert
AU - Hurtado, Ana
PY - 1994/9
Y1 - 1994/9
N2 - Reproductive experiences for women in today's affluent Western nations differ from those of women in hunting and gathering societies, who continue the ancestral human pattern. These differences parallel commonly accepted reproductive risk factors for cancers of the breast, endometrium and ovary. Nutritional practices, exercise requirements, and body composition are nonreproductive influences that have been proposed as additional factors affecting the incidence of women's cancers. In each case, these would further increase risk for women in industrialized countries relative to forager women. Lifestyles and reproductive patterns new from an evolutionary perspective may promote women's cancers. Calculations based on a theoretical model suggest that, to age 60, modern Western women have a breast cancer risk as much as 100 times that of preagricultural women.
AB - Reproductive experiences for women in today's affluent Western nations differ from those of women in hunting and gathering societies, who continue the ancestral human pattern. These differences parallel commonly accepted reproductive risk factors for cancers of the breast, endometrium and ovary. Nutritional practices, exercise requirements, and body composition are nonreproductive influences that have been proposed as additional factors affecting the incidence of women's cancers. In each case, these would further increase risk for women in industrialized countries relative to forager women. Lifestyles and reproductive patterns new from an evolutionary perspective may promote women's cancers. Calculations based on a theoretical model suggest that, to age 60, modern Western women have a breast cancer risk as much as 100 times that of preagricultural women.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0028500153&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0028500153&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
C2 - 7972680
AN - SCOPUS:0028500153
VL - 69
SP - 353
EP - 366
JO - Quarterly Review of Biology
JF - Quarterly Review of Biology
SN - 0033-5770
IS - 3
ER -