PFA

Food Aversion in Pregnancy

Class: I - Natural Selection

EPA Total Score: 37 /100

Czaja, J. A. (1975). Food rejection by female rhesus monkeys during the menstrual cycle and early pregnancy. Physiology & Behavior, 14, 579-587.

Abstract: Two hundred and two female rhesus monkeys were monitored for completion of meals and instances of food rejection during nonpregnant menstrual cycles and during pregnancy. Two prominent periods of increased food rejection were found. The first occurred midway through the menstrual cycle, around the expected time of ovulation. Incidence of food rejection during this periovulatory period was significantly greater than that observed during the early follicular or midluteal stages of the cycle. Food rejection also rose sharply during the third through the fifth weeks of pregnancy and then tapered off over the next month and a half. The feeding changes during early rhesus pregnancy are contrary to what has been described for rodents, but the pattern is consistent with the incidence of nausea and feeding changes reported for human pregnancies. The observations on rhesus females indicated a systematic relationship between levels of food intake and reproductive condition in primates. When feeding changes are compared to reports of endogenous estrogen and progesterone determinations, a positive correlation is noted between incidence of food rejection and levels of circulating estrogens.

DJGlass


Supporting Evidence

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10/100

Submitted by DJGlass

No one has (yet) rated this source as containing any supporting Hunter-Gatherer evidence for this EPA.

Supporting Evidence is evidence that suggests that this trait is an Evolved Psychological Adaptation (EPA) - i.e., that it has been shaped by natural selection to solve a particular adaptive problem.

Challenging Evidence

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0/100

Submitted by DJGlass

No one has (yet) rated this source as containing any challenging Hunter-Gatherer evidence for this EPA.

Challenging Evidence is evidence that suggests that this trait is not an EPA - e.g., that it is a product of cultural learning or genetic drift, or maybe it does not exist at all. However over each line of evidence for a description.