Many thanks to Loren Cordain for his interesting post on Neel's idea of
the thrifty genotype.  I wounder if he could clear up a point of
confusion forme?  It was my understanding the the "thrifty genotype" was
set up not to deal with periods of starvation but with a lifestyle in
which carbohydrates were in short supply.  Thus, when the rare,
high-carbohydrate meal was ingested, the body responded with high insulin
production so as to give the body more time to process and/or store this
windfall before it was flushed out by the kidneys.

Also, women with this genotype gave birth to higher birth weight babies.

The two characteristics formed the basis for the selective advantage of
the genotype.

So, have I confused this matter and is there a link to general periods of
starvation that I have missed?

Lorraine Heidecker
Department of Anthropology
California State University Sacramento