At the Origins of Tobacco-Smoking and Tea Consumption in a Virgin Population (Yakutia, 1650–1900 A.D.): Comparison of Pharmacological, Histological, Economic and Cultural Data

• Published in: Biology
• Main Authors: Macé, Matthias, Richeval, Camille, Alcouffe, Ameline, Romanova, Liubomira, Gérard, Patrice, Duchesne, Sylvie, Cannet, Catherine, Boyarskikh, Irina, Géraut, Annie, Zvénigorosky, Vincent, Nikolaeva, Darya, Allorge, Delphine, Debrenne, Michele, Telmon, Norbert, Ludes, Bertrand, Alexeev, Anatoly, Gaulier, Jean-Michel, Crubézy, Eric
• Other Authors: Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre de Physiopathologie de Toulouse-Purpan (INSERM U563 - CNRS UMR1037), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse (CHU Toulouse)-Institut Claudius Regaud-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Centre de lutte contre le cancer (CLCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Impact de l'environnement chimique sur la santé humaine - ULR 4483 (IMPECS), Université de Lille-Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire CHU Lille (CHRU Lille), Centre d'anthropologie et de génomique de Toulouse (CAGT), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Institut de Médecine Légale Strasbourg, Université Louis Pasteur - Strasbourg I, North-Eastern Federal University, Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA), Biologie, anthropologie, biométrie, épigénétique, lignées : De la diversité des populations à l'individu, de l'identification à l'identité (BABEL), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Novosibirsk State University (NSU), Station d'Ecologie Théorique et Expérimentale (SETE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Fédération de Recherche Agrobiosciences, Interactions et Biodiversité (FR AIB), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: [SHS.ANTHRO-SE]Humanities and Social Sciences/Social Anthropology and ethnology; [SHS.HIST]Humanities and Social Sciences/History; Yakutia; Siberia
• Online Access: https://hal.univ-lille.fr/hal-03678017; https://hal.univ-lille.fr/hal-03678017/document; https://hal.univ-lille.fr/hal-03678017/file/Mac%C3%A9%20et%20al.%202021.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10121271

International audience Background: The way tobacco and tea spread among virgin populations is of major interest our understanding of how ancient economic and cultural practices could have influenced current habits.Methods: hair concentrations of theobromine, theophylline, caffeine, nicotine, and cotinine were measured in hair samples from 47 frozen bodies of people from eastern Siberia, dated from the contact with Europeans to the assimilation of people into Russian society.Results: hair concentration of theobromine, theophylline, and caffeine vary with the type of beverage consumed: green, black, or local herbal teas. Shortly after the first contacts, a few heavy consumers of tobacco were found among light or passive consumers. Tobacco-related co-morbidities began to be recorded one century after and heavy tea users were only found from the 19th century.Conclusions: Economic factors and social and family contacts seem to have played a decisive role in tobacco consumption very early on. Behavioral evolution governed the process of substance integration into Siberian culture and was a determinant for the continuity of its use across long periods of time. Analyzing the respective contributions of social and economic processes in the use of these substances opens avenues of investigation for today’s public health.