ArticleInternational journal of tryptophan research : IJTR2013
Big brains, meat, tuberculosis, and the nicotinamide switches: co-evolutionary relationships with modern repercussions?
Article in International journal of tryptophan research : IJTR, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Tryptophan and Its Derived Metabolites as Biomarkers for Tuberculosis Disease: A Systematic ReviewIranian biomedical journal · 2024Pooled it
- Metabolic discrimination of synovial fluid between rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis using gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry.Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society · 2022Article
- Nicotinamide pathways as the root cause of sepsis - an evolutionary perspective on macrophage energetic shifts.The FEBS journal · 2022Review
- The 4 D's of Pellagra and Progress.International journal of tryptophan research : IJTR · 2020Review
- Indoleamine 2, 3-Dioxygenase-Mediated Tryptophan Catabolism: A Leading Star or Supporting Act in the Tuberculosis and HIV Pas-de-Deux?Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2019Review
- Review
- Meat Intake and the Dose of Vitamin BInternational journal of tryptophan research : IJTR · 2017Review
- Nicotinamide alone accelerates the conversion of mouse embryonic stem cells into mature neuronal populations.PloS one · 2017Article
- Insights into secular trends of respiratory tuberculosis: The 20th century Maltese experience.PloS one · 2017Article
- Co-evolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Homo sapiens.Immunological reviews · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Meat-eating was a game changer for human evolution. We suggest that the limiting factors for expanding brains earlier were scarcities of nicotinamide and tryptophan. In humans and some other omnivores, lack of meat causes these deficiencies. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) is necessary to synthesize adenosine triphosphate (ATP) via either glycolysis or via the mitochondrial respiratory chain. NAD consumption is also necessary for developmental and repair circuits. Inadequate supplies result in "de-evolutionary" brain atrophy, as seen with pellagra. If trophic nicotinamide/tryptophan was a "prime mover" in building bigger brains, back-up mechanisms should have evolved. One strategy may be to recruit extra gut symbionts that produce NADH precursors or export nicotinamide (though this may cause diarrhea). We propose a novel supplier TB that co-evolved early, which did not originally and does not now inevitably cause disease. TB has highly paradoxical immunology for a pathogen, and secretes and is inhibited by nicotinamide and its analogue, isoniazid. Sharp declines in TB and diarrhea correlated with increased meat intake in the past, suggesting that dietary vitamin B3 and tryptophan deficiencies (also associated with poor cognition and decreased lifespans) are still common where meat is unaffordable.
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Registered trials
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