Herman Pontzer
Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health
Appointment:
Herman Pontzer
Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health
How did the human body evolve, and how does our species’ deep past shape our health and physiology today? Through lab and field research, Dr. Pontzer investigates the physiology of humans and other primates to understand how ecology, lifestyle, diet, and evolutionary history affect metabolism and health. He is particularly interested in cardiometabolic disease and the lifestyle factors that protect against obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other noncommunicable diseases that are common among industrialized populations but rare or absent in non-industrialized societies.
Dr. Pontzer’s field projects seek to understand how diet, activity and other ecological factors influence the physiology and health of people in small-scale societies, including hunter-gatherers and subsistence farmers in east Africa and South America. Back at Duke, his lab research focuses on energetics and metabolism, including respirometry and doubly labeled water methods.
Publications
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Swanson ZS, Nzunza R, Bethancourt HJ, Saunders J, Mutindwa F, Ndiema E, et al. Early childhood growth in Daasanach pastoralists of Northern Kenya: Distinct patterns of faltering in linear growth and weight gain. American Journal of Human Biology : the Official Journal of the Human Biology Council. 2022 Dec;e23842.Pontzer H. Exercise is essential for health but a poor tool for weight loss: a reply to Allison and colleagues. International Journal of Obesity (2005). 2022 Dec;Yamada Y, Zhang X, Henderson MET, Sagayama H, Pontzer H, Watanabe D, et al. Variation in human water turnover associated with environmental and lifestyle factors. Science. 2022 Nov 25;378(6622):909–15.Hora M, Pontzer H, Struška M, Entin P, Sládek V. Comparing walking and running in persistence hunting. Journal of Human Evolution. 2022 Nov;172:103247.
See more publications at Scholars@Duke