2000 years of parallel societies in Stone Age Central Europe.

Debate on the ancestry of Europeans centers on the interplay between Mesolithic foragers and Neolithic farmers. Foragers are generally believed to have disappeared shortly after the arrival of agriculture. To investigate the relation between foragers and farmers, we examined Mesolithic and Neolithic samples from the Blätterhöhle site. Mesolithic mitochondrial DNA sequences were typical of European foragers, whereas the Neolithic sample included additional lineages that are associated with early farmers. However, isotope analyses separate the Neolithic sample into two groups: one with an agriculturalist diet and one with a forager and freshwater fish diet, the latter carrying mitochondrial DNA sequences typical of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. This indicates that the descendants of Mesolithic people maintained a foraging lifestyle in Central Europe for more than 2000 years after the arrival of farming societies.

Food, feed, fuel: transforming the competition for grains.

Critical changes are underway in the domain of grain utilization. With the large-scale diversion of corn for the manufacture of ethanol, the bulk of it in the USA, there has been a transformation of the food­feed competition that emerged in the twentieth century and characterized the world's grain consumption after World War II. Concerns have already been expressed in several quarters regarding the role of corn-based ethanol in the recent food price spike and the global food crisis. In this context, this article attempts to outline the theoretical tenets of a food­feed­fuel competition in the domain of grain consumption. The study focuses on developments in the US economy from 1980 onwards, when the earliest initiatives on bio-fuel promotion were undertaken. The transformation of the erstwhile food­feed competition with the introduction of fuel as a further use for grains has caused a new dynamics of adjustments between the different uses of grains. This tilts the distribution of cereal consumption drastically against the low-income classes and poses tougher challenges in the fight against global hunger.

History of the use of antibiotic as growth promoters in European poultry feeds.

Use of antibiotics as growth promoters in animal feeds has been permitted in the member states of the European Union during the last 50 yr. However, concerns about development of antimicrobial resistance and about transference of antibiotic resistance genes from animal to human microbiota, led to withdraw approval for antibiotics as growth promoters in the European Union since January 1, 2006. This report analyzes the history of European legislation regarding the use of antibiotics in poultry feeds, since the first harmonization by Directive 70/524 until Regulation 1831/2003 deleted these substances from the European Register of additives permitted in feeds. The European support to recommendations of the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Organization for Animal Health for a ban on antimicrobial use in animal feeds is expected to favor other countries also phase these substances out.

Feeding the city: food consumption and flow of nitrogen, Paris, 1801-1914.

The flows of foodstuffs (and the nitrogen they contain) through the city of Paris in the 19th and early 20th century were evaluated. Between 1801 and 1914, the fivefold increase in the population of Paris, as well as the threefold increase in the number of horses used in urban transport, gave rise to increased needs for food and feed. The corresponding inputs of nitrogen increased from 6000 tN/year in 1817 to 25,000 tN/year from the rural hinterland to the city. The corresponding per capita inflows were relatively stable throughout the period and may be divided into four more or less equal parts (flour, meat, other human foodstuffs, forage), each representing about 6 gN per inhabitant per day. In total, the demand for foodstuffs was of the order of 24 gN per inhabitant per day, one quarter of which was for transport. The fate of this dietary nitrogen after consumption changed a lot with the techniques used for exploiting urban excreta of all kinds, particularly of nitrogen, which was in great demand until the development of synthetic fertilizers. Dietary nitrogen flow diagrams are established for the years 1817, 1869 and 1913, and reveal an increasing improvement of the agricultural reuse (from 20 to 40% of the inflowing N).

Observations on the history of the development of antimicrobials and their use in poultry feeds.

Antimicrobials are powerful tools, but controversy and conflict often follow power. The development of antimicrobials was marked by personal attacks, political intrigue, internal conflicts, and lawsuits. Such controversy and conflict has continued. The early history of supplementing animal feeds with antimicrobials parallels the isolation and identification of vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 was isolated and characterized in 1948, but further research showed that several feed ingredients, including dried mycelia of certain fungi, were more potent as growth promoters in the diet of chicks than was vitamin B12 alone. The growth-promoting component in fungal mycelia was shown to have antimicrobial activity. A total of 32 antimicrobial compounds are approved for use in broiler feeds in the U.S. without a veterinary prescription. Fifteen compounds are listed for treatment of coccidiosis, 11 are listed as growth promotants, and six are listed for other purposes. Seven compounds are also used in human medicine. These compounds include bacitracin, chlotetracycline, erythromycin, lincomycin, novobiocin, oxytetracycline, and penicillin. No published estimates of antimicrobial use in animals exist at present, and estimates of that use differ markedly. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) estimates usage at 30.6 million pounds, nearly 50% (49.85%) higher than the Animal Health Institute (AHI) estimate of 20.42 million pounds. AHI surveyed their members (the manufacturers of antimicrobials) to obtain their estimates, whereas USC calculated their estimates using published data and the following general formula: antimicrobial use = number of animals treated x average days treated x average dose.

Nitrogen use in the United States from 1961-2000 and potential future trends.

Nitrogen inputs to the US from human activity doubled between 1961 and 1997, with most of the increase in the 1960s and 1970s. The largest increase was in use of inorganic N fertilizer, but emissions of NOx from fossil-fuel combustion also increased substantially. In 1961, N fixation in agricultural systems was the largest single source of reactive N in the US. By 1997, even though N fixation had increased, fertilizer use and NOx emissions had increased more rapidly and were both larger inputs. In both 1961 and 1997, two thirds of reactive N inputs were denitrified or stored in soils and biota, while one third was exported. The largest export was in riverine flux to coastal oceans, followed by export in food and feeds, and atmospheric advection to the oceans. The consumption of meat protein is a major driver behind N use in agriculture in the US Without change in diet or agricultural practices, fertilizer use will increase over next 30 years, and fluxes to coastal oceans may increase by another 30%. However, substantial reductions are possible.

[Ca and P supply of ruminants in the 19th and beginning of 20th century in Middle Europe]. / Zur Ca- und P-Versorgung der Wiederkäuer im 19. und beginnenden 20. Jahrhundert in Mitteleuropa.

The present review evaluates veterinary publications about some bone diseases in ruminants till 1925. According to more than 100 publications in some regions of Germany as well as in Scandinavian and Westeuropean countries during the 19th century several cases of bone fractures in ruminants were reported, mainly in pregnant and lactating cattle and goats. From a recent point of view and after feed analyses this disease obviously was caused by a P-deficiency. Bone fractures sometimes were accompanied by licking behaviour, but in other regions pica (without severe skeletal deformations) was probably related to a Cu- or Co-deficiency. Swelling of the jaws (probably by Ca-deficiency) was exclusively described in goats. By preventive measures (feeding bone meal, P-fertilisation) bone fractures diminished in the beginning of the 20th century. After the experience in the past in ruminants bone diseases may come back, if effective preventive measures will be ignored due to the recent trends towards 'natural farming'.

Developments in equine nutrition: comparing the beginning and end of this century.

In the first part of this century, there was little advancement in horse nutrition and little research was undertaken. However, in the last few years, there has been a great increase in interest in this whole area. This review surveys some of the more recent developments and how they have influenced feeding practices and also compares these with those feeding practices found at the start of this century. The review concentrates on the nutrition of the adult horse in work, exploring in particular what they are fed and how the nutrient value of these feeds is evaluated.

[Isotopic signatures in ancient bone collagen]. / Signatures isotopiques dans le collagène des os anciens.

Collagen can be preserved during tens of thousands of years in bones and teeth under favorable conditions. Natural isotopic abundances in carbon (13C/12C) and in nitrogen (15N/14N) of ancient bone and tooth collagen correspond to those recorded during the biogenic synthesis and have not been significantly altered during fossilization. These isotopic abundances are linked to those of the proteic fraction of animal and human diets, and to physiological conditions. Three kinds of applications are made possible through these natural isotopic signatures: determination of subsistence strategies in ancient human populations, determination of the diet of extinct species and the analysis of past environmental changes.

Los hábitos alimentarios del hombre y la patología colónica / Human food habits and the colonic pathology

La cualidad y calidad de los alimentos con que el hombre se nutre han sido siempre motivo de atención. En este trabajo se efectúa una revisión histórica del tipo de alimentación humana, sus formas de obtención y preparación y su influencia en diversas patologías. Se pone énfasis en la relación de la dieta y el colon destacándose el rol de la fibra en el cáncer y en la enfermedad diverticular colónica.

Los hábitos alimentarios del hombre y la patología colónica / Human food habits and the colonic pathology

La cualidad y calidad de los alimentos con que el hombre se nutre han sido siempre motivo de atención. En este trabajo se efectúa una revisión histórica del tipo de alimentación humana, sus formas de obtención y preparación y su influencia en diversas patologías. Se pone énfasis en la relación de la dieta y el colon destacándose el rol de la fibra en el cáncer y en la enfermedad diverticular colónica. (AU)