Table 3.

Evidence for life history trade-offs in humans between maintenance (M), growth (G), reproduction (R), and Defence (D).

Trade-off	Population	Life-history trait	Exposure	Outcome	References
M-G	UK	Longevity	Rapid infant growth	Arterial stiffness	(91)
	UK	Longevity	Post-natal growth	High blood pressure	(92)
	India	Cellular health	Adult weight gain	Telomere attrition	(93)
	US	Cellular health	Adult weight gain	Telomere attrition	(94)
M-R	Global data	Maternal longevity	Reproductive effort	Shorter lifespan	(95)
	UK	Maternal longevity	Reproductive effort	Shorter lifespan	(29)
	Finland	Maternal longevity	Bearing twins	Shorter lifespan	(96)
	UK	Bone health	Early menarche	Reduced bone strength	(97)
M-D	Europe	Longevity	Infant disease load	Shorter adult lifespan	(89)
	Ethiopia	Mental health	Fetal fat deposition	Poorer mental health	(98)
	Meta-analysis	Metabolic homeostasis	Hepatitis C infection	Increased risk of type 2 diabetes	(99)
	Meta-analysis	Metabolic homeostasis	Periodontal disease	Increased risk of cardiovascular disease	(100)
G-R	SS Africa	Child growth	Number of siblings	Growth declines w. sibling no.	(101)
	UK	Child growth	Earlier reproduction	Low birth weight	(102)
	UK	Bone health	Early menarche	Reduced bone size	(97)
	India	Adult height	Early menarche	Short adult stature	(103)
G-D	SS Africa	Child growth	Maternal malaria	Low birth weight offspring	(104)
	Guatemala	Child growth	Diarrhoeal disease	Reduced growth	(105)
	Ecuador	Child growth	Immune activity	Reduced growth	(106)
	Europe	Adult height	Infant mortality rate	Mortality declines predict taller height	(89)
R-D	Senegal	Maternal mortality	Malaria	Reproduction increases infection risk	(107)
	UK athletes	Reproductive investment	Endurance exercise	Decline in testosterone	(108)
	UK athletes	Immune function	Endurance exercise	Increase in immune markers	(108)
	Malaysia	Reproductive investment	Reduced maternal stress	Increased breast-milk transfer	(109)

SS Africa, sub-Saharan Africa.