Tessa Pollard graduated from the University of Oxford with degrees in Human Sciences and Biological Anthropology. She is currently a lecturer in Biological Anthropology at Durham University. She conducts research on risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in western and westernising populations.

'… a powerful and compelling evolutionary analysis of the 'diseases of civilisation', a stellar achievement … every medical student, practitioner, and researcher in the field of human health should read it.' Peter T. Ellison, John Cowles Professor of Biological Anthropology, Harvard University

• 1. Introduction; 2. An evolutionary history of human disease; 3. Obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease; 4. The thrifty genotype versus thrifty phenotype debate: efforts to explain between population variation in rates of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease; 5. Reproductive cancers; 6. Reproductive function, breastfeeding and the menopause; 7. Asthma and allergic disease; 8. Depression and stress; 9. Conclusion.

Tessa Pollard graduated from the University of Oxford with degrees in Human Sciences and Biological Anthropology. She is currently a lecturer in Biological Anthropology at Durham University. She conducts research on risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in western and westernising populations.

'… a powerful and compelling evolutionary analysis of the 'diseases of civilisation', a stellar achievement … every medical student, practitioner, and researcher in the field of human health should read it.' Peter T. Ellison, John Cowles Professor of Biological Anthropology, Harvard University

• 1. Introduction; 2. An evolutionary history of human disease; 3. Obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease; 4. The thrifty genotype versus thrifty phenotype debate: efforts to explain between population variation in rates of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease; 5. Reproductive cancers; 6. Reproductive function, breastfeeding and the menopause; 7. Asthma and allergic disease; 8. Depression and stress; 9. Conclusion.

Tessa Pollard graduated from the University of Oxford with degrees in Human Sciences and Biological Anthropology. She is currently a lecturer in Biological Anthropology at Durham University. She conducts research on risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in western and westernising populations.

'… a powerful and compelling evolutionary analysis of the 'diseases of civilisation', a stellar achievement … every medical student, practitioner, and researcher in the field of human health should read it.' Peter T. Ellison, John Cowles Professor of Biological Anthropology, Harvard University

• 1. Introduction; 2. An evolutionary history of human disease; 3. Obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease; 4. The thrifty genotype versus thrifty phenotype debate: efforts to explain between population variation in rates of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease; 5. Reproductive cancers; 6. Reproductive function, breastfeeding and the menopause; 7. Asthma and allergic disease; 8. Depression and stress; 9. Conclusion.