ReviewDie Naturwissenschaften2010
Carotenoid maintenance handicap and the physiology of carotenoid-based signalisation of health.
Review in Die Naturwissenschaften, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The Impairment of Body Condition Transiently Increases Oxidative Stress: A Dietary Restriction Experiment in Partridges.Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology · 2025Article
- Oxidative physiology is weakly associated with pigmentation in birds.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Inter-annual repeatability and age-dependent changes in plasma testosterone levels in a longitudinally monitored free-living passerine bird.Oecologia · 2022Article
- Skin Color Cues to Human Health: Carotenoids, Aerobic Fitness, and Body Fat.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- Habitat constraints on carotenoid-based coloration in a small euryhaline teleost.Ecology and evolution · 2018Article
- Environmental stress linked to consumption of maternally derived carotenoids in brown trout embryos (Ecology and evolution · 2017Article
- Immune challenges and visual signalling in tree frogs.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2017Article
- Trade-off between carotenoid-based sexual ornamentation and sperm resistance to oxidative challenge.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2017Article
- Opposing effects of oxidative challenge and carotenoids on antioxidant status and condition-dependent sexual signalling.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Article
- Article
- Carotenoid-based coloration in cichlid fishes.Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Molecular & integrative physiology · 2014Review
- Protective effects of dietary carotenoids on risk of hip fracture in men: the Singapore Chinese Health Study.Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research · 2014Article
- Article
- Haemosporidian parasites of a European passerine wintering in South Asia: diversity, mixed infections and effect on host condition.Parasitology research · 2013Article
- Attractive skin coloration: harnessing sexual selection to improve diet and health.Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior · 2012Review
- One trait, many signals: different information on male quality is enclosed within the same trait in a blenny fish.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2012Article
- Cross-cultural effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on skin color.American journal of public health · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite a reasonable scientific interest in sexual selection, the general principles of health signalisation via ornamental traits remain still unresolved in many aspects. This is also true for the mechanism preserving honesty of carotenoid-based signals. Although it is widely accepted that this type of ornamentation reflects an allocation trade-off between the physiological utilisation of carotenoids (mainly in antioxidative processes) and their deposition in ornaments, some recent evidence suggests more complex interactions. Here, we further develop the models currently proposed to explain the honesty of carotenoid-based signalisation of heath status by adding the handicap principle concept regulated by testosterone. We propose that under certain circumstances carotenoids may be dangerous for the organism because they easily transform into toxic cleavage products. When reserves of other protective antioxidants are insufficient, physiological trade-offs may exist between maintenance of carotenoids for ornament expression and their removal from the body. Furthermore, we suggest that testosterone which enhances ornamentation by increasing carotenoid bioavailability may also promote oxidative stress and hence lower antioxidant reserves. The presence of high levels of carotenoids required for high-quality ornament expression may therefore represent a handicap and only individuals in prime health could afford to produce elaborate colourful ornaments. Although further testing is needed, this 'carotenoid maintenance handicap' hypothesis may offer a new insight into the physiological aspects of the relationship between carotenoid function, immunity and ornamentation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.