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Comparing apples and oranges: why infant bone collagen may not reflect dietary intake in the same way as dentine collagen
Beaumont, Julia Craig-Atkins, E. Buckberry, Jo Haydock, H. Horne, P. Howcroft, R. MacKenzie, K. Montgomery, J.
Beaumont, Julia
Craig-Atkins, E.
Buckberry, Jo
Haydock, H.
Horne, P.
Howcroft, R.
MacKenzie, K.
Montgomery, J.
Publication Date
2018-11
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© 2018 The Authors. American Journal of Physical Anthropology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.
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Yes
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openAccess
Accepted for publication
2018-06-19
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Abstract
Objectives:
Recent developments in incremental dentine analysis allowing increased temporal
resolution for tissues formed during the first 1000 days of life have cast doubt on the
veracity of weaning studies using bone collagen carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope
ratio data from infants. Here we compare published bone data from the well-preserved
Anglo-Saxon site of Raunds Furnells, England, with co-forming dentine from the same
individuals, and investigate the relationship of these with juvenile stature. The high resolution
isotope data recorded in dentine allow us to investigate the relationship of diet
with juvenile stature during this critical period of life.
Materials and methods:
We compare incremental dentine collagen δ13C and δ15N data to published bone collagen
data for 18 juveniles and 5 female adults from Anglo Saxon Raunds Furnells alongside new
data for juvenile skeletal and dental age. An improvement in the method by sampling the
first 0.5mm of the sub-cuspal or sub-incisal dentine allows the isotopic measurement of
dentine formed in utero.
Results and Discussion:
δ13C profiles for both dentine and bone are similar and more robust than δ15N for estimating
the age at which weaning foods are introduced. Our results suggest δ15N values from
dentine can be used to evaluate the maternal/in utero diet and physiology during
pregnancy, and that infant dentine profiles may reflect diet PLUS an element of
physiological stress. In particular, bone collagen fails to record the same range of δ15N as coforming
dentine, especially where growth is stunted, suggesting that infant bone collagen is
unreliable for weaning studies.
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Published version
Citation
Beaumont J, Craig-Atkins E, Buckberry J et al (2018) Comparing apples and oranges: why infant bone collagen may not reflect dietary intake in the same way as dentine collagen. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 167(3): 524-540.
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Article