Perspectives of Human Development: Time, Space, and Chrononutrition

This chapter attempts to step backward in time and space, to consider evolution in the context of chronobiology and chronomics and to then focus on how this science, pioneered by Professor Halberg and his team at the University of Minnesota, can bring improved health benefits to mankind. Although being mindful of this old yet formally modern science, care is taken to include many practical considerations that have a tendency to be sometimes undervalued in research. Evolution continues under the omnipresence of gravity, changing electromagnetic forces, time, space, and Earth's climate and environment as an ecological biogeographical phenomenon that took place extremely slowly in geological time but is now undergoing change at an extraordinary pace in recent times of human evolution and adaption to their environment (1). Already about 1 out of 3 billion people go hungry (2) (and currently in overall decline) and by 2050 the estimated population is about 9 billion (3). Great challenges to reduce poverty and hunger lie ahead: people need to be fed but safely, the risk of inflammatory diseases such as gastrointestinal and cardiovascular disorders needs to be reduced: and one potential area of research concerns chrononutrition. It is by understanding the chronobiological science that underpins health that will enable such goals to be reached.