Human whole body cold adaptation
Reviews on whole body human cold adaptation generally do not distinguish between population studies and dedicated acclimation studies, leading to confusing results. Population studies show that indigenous black Africans have reduced shivering thermogenesis in the cold and poor cold induced vasodilat...
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| Format: | Online |
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Taylor & Francis
2016
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| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4861193/ |
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pubmed-48611932016-05-25 Human whole body cold adaptation Daanen, Hein A.M. Van Marken Lichtenbelt, Wouter D. Priority Reviews Reviews on whole body human cold adaptation generally do not distinguish between population studies and dedicated acclimation studies, leading to confusing results. Population studies show that indigenous black Africans have reduced shivering thermogenesis in the cold and poor cold induced vasodilation in fingers and toes compared to Caucasians and Inuit. About 40,000 y after humans left Africa, natives in cold terrestrial areas seems to have developed not only behavioral adaptations, but also physiological adaptations to cold. Dedicated studies show that repeated whole body exposure of individual volunteers, mainly Caucasians, to severe cold results in reduced cold sensation but no major physiological changes. Repeated cold water immersion seems to slightly reduce metabolic heat production, while repeated exposure to milder cold conditions shows some increase in metabolic heat production, in particular non-shivering thermogenesis. In conclusion, human cold adaptation in the form of increased metabolism and insulation seems to have occurred during recent evolution in populations, but cannot be developed during a lifetime in cold conditions as encountered in temperate and arctic regions. Therefore, we mainly depend on our behavioral skills to live in and survive the cold. Taylor & Francis 2016-02-22 /pmc/articles/PMC4861193/ /pubmed/27227100 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23328940.2015.1135688 Text en © 2016 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted. |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Daanen, Hein A.M. Van Marken Lichtenbelt, Wouter D. |
| spellingShingle |
Daanen, Hein A.M. Van Marken Lichtenbelt, Wouter D. Human whole body cold adaptation |
| author_facet |
Daanen, Hein A.M. Van Marken Lichtenbelt, Wouter D. |
| author_sort |
Daanen, Hein A.M. |
| title |
Human whole body cold adaptation |
| title_short |
Human whole body cold adaptation |
| title_full |
Human whole body cold adaptation |
| title_fullStr |
Human whole body cold adaptation |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Human whole body cold adaptation |
| title_sort |
human whole body cold adaptation |
| description |
Reviews on whole body human cold adaptation generally do not distinguish between population studies and dedicated acclimation studies, leading to confusing results. Population studies show that indigenous black Africans have reduced shivering thermogenesis in the cold and poor cold induced vasodilation in fingers and toes compared to Caucasians and Inuit. About 40,000 y after humans left Africa, natives in cold terrestrial areas seems to have developed not only behavioral adaptations, but also physiological adaptations to cold. Dedicated studies show that repeated whole body exposure of individual volunteers, mainly Caucasians, to severe cold results in reduced cold sensation but no major physiological changes. Repeated cold water immersion seems to slightly reduce metabolic heat production, while repeated exposure to milder cold conditions shows some increase in metabolic heat production, in particular non-shivering thermogenesis. In conclusion, human cold adaptation in the form of increased metabolism and insulation seems to have occurred during recent evolution in populations, but cannot be developed during a lifetime in cold conditions as encountered in temperate and arctic regions. Therefore, we mainly depend on our behavioral skills to live in and survive the cold. |
| publisher |
Taylor & Francis |
| publishDate |
2016 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4861193/ |
| _version_ |
1613577159940505600 |