Health Change in the Asia-Pacific Region (Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology, Series Number 52)

The Asia-Pacific region has seen great social, environmental and economic change across the past century, with great acceleration of change in the last 20 years, leading to dramatic changes in the health profiles of all populations represented in South East and East Asia, Pacific Islands and the islands of Melanesia. This volume considers recent evidence concerning prehistoric migration, and colonial, regional and global processes in the production of health change in the Asia-Pacific region. Notably, it examines ways in which a health pattern dominated by under-nutrition and infection has been displaced in many ways, and is being displaced elsewhere by over-nutrition and the degenerative diseases associated with it. This book presents a cohesive view of the ways in which exchange relationships, economic modernisation, migration and transnational linkages interact with changing rural subsistence ecologies to influence health patterns in this region. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 4 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Contributors......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 11 Introduction......Page 13 Physical and human geography in prehistory and its implications for present-day human biology......Page 16 Modernization and health change......Page 19 Migration, transnationalism and nutritional health......Page 23 Health transition and biocultural adaptation......Page 25 References......Page 29 Introduction......Page 33 Late Pleistocene explorers in the Pacific......Page 34 'Two peoples, two periods?’......Page 38 The interaction of iron status with malaria......Page 40 Alpha-thalassaemia protects against malaria and interacts with the iron effect......Page 42 Alpha-thalassaemia gene deletions act as migration markers in the Pacific......Page 43 Asians in the Pacific? A 1980s view of autosomal loci......Page 44 Pacific intrusions of Asian mitochondrial DNA haplogroups......Page 46 Y Chromosome: intrusive Asian lineages in the Pacific......Page 49 Conclusions......Page 50 References......Page 52 Introduction......Page 56 Adaptation of Pleistocene migrants......Page 57 Adaptation of Austronesian migrants......Page 58 Change and diversification in New Guinea......Page 60 From Lapita homeland to Remote Oceania......Page 62 Contemporary changes in human biology: some case studies from Papua New Guinea......Page 63 Comparison of body composition among five populations......Page 64 Rural–urban comparisons......Page 67 Inter-population differences in risk of degenerative disease......Page 69 References......Page 70 Social, cultural and economic features of the region......Page 76 Patterns of food production and consumption between 1960 and the 1990s......Page 81 The evolution of nutritional health......Page 83 Indonesia: transitions and challenges......Page 93 Conclusion......Page 95 References......Page 96 Introduction......Page 100 Cut-offs for obesity in Hong Kong Chinese people......Page 101 Prevalence of obesity in Hong Kong......Page 103 Central obesity......Page 104 Obesity, morbidity and mortality......Page 105 Metabolic Syndrome......Page 106 Nutritional health of Hong Kong Chinese people......Page 107 Physical activity in Hong Kong Chinese people......Page 108 References......Page 109 Introduction......Page 113 Solomon Islands......Page 114 Survey methods......Page 115 Time allocation survey......Page 116 Physical activity level and total energy expenditure (TEE)......Page 118 Dietary survey......Page 120 Body composition......Page 121 Time allocation......Page 124 Physical activity......Page 127 Modelling activity profiles: how a desirable level of physical activity can be achieved......Page 130 Dietary intake......Page 131 Summary......Page 134 References......Page 136 Introduction......Page 139 Subjects and methods......Page 140 When did Tongans become obese?......Page 141 Regional differences in Tongan obesity......Page 145 Associations between obesity and health disorders......Page 148 Concluding remarks......Page 153 Acknowledgements......Page 154 References......Page 155 Introduction......Page 159 The Samoas......Page 160 Nutritional change......Page 163 Adiposity and overweight among Samoan adults......Page 165 Adiposity among Samoan children......Page 172 Blood pressure and cardiovascular disease......Page 178 Type 2 diabetes......Page 182 Dietary intake patterns......Page 184 Physical activity and health......Page 193 Conclusion......Page 197 References......Page 198 Introduction......Page 204 Demographic characteristics......Page 205 Socioeconomic characteristics......Page 206 Adult health......Page 207 Adult health outcomes and behaviours......Page 212 Infant mortality......Page 216 Birth outcomes......Page 218 Child health and health care......Page 219 Maternal health and health care......Page 222 Prenatal care......Page 225 Conclusions......Page 226 References......Page 227 Introduction......Page 231 Cook Islander populations......Page 232 Dietary change among Cook Islanders, 1952–2000......Page 235 Blood pressure......Page 237 Body size......Page 241 Conclusions......Page 243 References......Page 244 Introduction......Page 246 Major trends in mortality in New Zealand......Page 249 A comparison of mortality trends between Australia and New Zealand......Page 258 Mortality patterns elsewhere in the Pacific......Page 262 References......Page 263 Introduction......Page 266 Papua New Guinea......Page 267 Pre-colonial adaptation and health......Page 273 Health impacts of colonization......Page 278 Mortality trends......Page 279 Health problems of modernization......Page 286 Infections, old and new......Page 290 Malaria......Page 292 HIV/AIDS......Page 298 Conclusion: double jeopardy?......Page 301 Acknowledgments......Page 303 References......Page 304 Index......Page 315 Health change in the Asia-Pacific region: disparate end-points? / Stanley J. Ulijaszek and Ryutaro Ohtsuka Interactions of nutrition, genetics and infectious disease in the Pacific: implications for prehistoric migrations / Stephen Oppenheimer Biocultural adaptation and population connectedness in the Asia-Pacific region / Ryutaro Ohtsuka Changing nutritional health in South East Asia / Geoffrey C. Marks Obesity and nutritional health in Hong Kong Chinese people / Gary T.C. Ko Modernization, nutritional adaptability and health in Papua New Guinea highlanders and Solomon Islanders / Taro Yamauchi Tongan obesity: causes and consequences / Tsukasa Inaoka, Yasuhiro Matsumura and Kazuhiro Suda Nutrition and health in modernizing Samoans: temporal trends and adaptive perspectives / Ember D. Keighley ... [et al.] Health patterns of Pacific Islanders and Asians in the United States / W. Parker Frisbie ... [et al.] Impacts of modernization and transnationalism on nutritional health of Cook Islanders / Stanley J. Ulijaszek Mortality decline in the Pacific: economic development and other explanations / Alistair Woodward and Tony Blakely Health changes in Papua New Guinea: from adaptation to double jeopardy? / Robert Attenborough. This book was first published in 2007. The Asia-Pacific region has seen great social, environmental and economic change across the past century, leading to dramatic changes in the health profiles of all populations represented in South East and East Asia, Pacific Islands and the islands of Melanesia. This volume considers evidence concerning prehistoric migration, and colonial, regional and global processes in the production of health change in the Asia-Pacific region. Notably, it examines ways in which a health pattern dominated by under-nutrition and infection has been displaced in many ways, and is being displaced elsewhere by over-nutrition and the degenerative diseases associated with it. This book presents a cohesive view of the ways in which exchange relationships, economic modernization, migration and transnational linkages interact with changing rural subsistence ecologies to influence health patterns in this region. This volume considers evidence concerning prehistoric migration, and colonial, regional and global processes in the production of health change in the Asia-Pacific region. This cohesive volume will be of interest to graduates and researchers specializing in public/global health and biocultural anthropology.