Humans red in tooth and claw?
The New Yorker has an interesting article by Manvir Singh about fad diets, with a focus on all-animal diet as ostensibly the diet best suited to our species. A character who brands himself “The Liver King” specifically endorses grassfed beef liver. The paleo diet industry insists that humans evolved to kill animals and devour their tissues and organs, eating plant matter in desperate circumstances.
In reality, the best research we have suggests that humans evolved as omnivores, eating both animal (vertebrate and invertebrate) and plant tissues:
• the tooth wear patterns on fossilized Australopithecus and Neanderthals indicated a diet that contained substantial fibrous plants;
• by comparing diets among 58 foraging societies from around the world, anthropologist Richard Lee found that half got the majority of their calories from plant foods and only eleven relied on hunting for their primary means of subsistence, all but one in the highest or lowest latitudes, far from our African origins;
• the longest-lived humans on the planet today, Japanese from Okinawa, and the population with the lowest incidence of cardiovascular disease, the Tsimane of the Bolivian Amazon, consume diets that are, respectively, nine and fourteen percent protein;
• Most nonhuman primates have a mixed diet that consists of a wide spectrum of plant foods and a relatively small spectrum of animal foods. Patterns of food selection shift in relation to seasonal changes in food availability.
I found the recommendation of liver as heath food particularly odd, considering the liver functions as one of the body’s filtration system to remove toxins from the blood. Why would you eat a toxic waste dump?
I’m not a fan of food as medicine. The first principle is to maintain a healthy weight, which means calories in = calories out. It’s very hard to lose weight though exercise, so a healthy diet should be the focus in that project. Beyond weight, there’s ample evidence that fruits and vegetable calories should displace calories from refined flour and sugar. No more than 20-30% of calories from fat, although there’s not much evidence that, e.g., fat from olive oil is “better” than butterfat.
Beyond that, regular exercise, strong social connections, challenging intellectual activities and good genetics are keys to longer lifespan and longer healthspan. Ignore the fad diets—they’re only designed to lighten your wallet.
What diet is best for us?
As a matter of history, it does seem that humans do hunt and follow herds as well as tending herds throughout ancient history. Modern history as well; consider the demise of the Bison and indigenous people following reindeer and fishing. I wouldn’t argue meat was their sole diet but even the examples you cited suggested some meat protein generally.
I also would not argue for a diet solely of meat protein or majority.
@Jack,
“Some meat” is completely consistent with everything I posted. That’s what “omnivore” means.
Some bovine herd-tending was for milk, and sheep for wool.
My main point is that the idea that humans evolved to be primarily or exclusively meat-eating flies in the face of all evidence.
I didn’t intend to imply otherwise. I do think it’s likely that meat, when available, was consumed more frequently than the studies you mentioned seemed to suggest. Bottom line: I agree; humans are omnivores.
I long ago stopped [defending myself against] arguing thus: we evolved to become who we are because our ancestors (we) were (are) willing to eat anything, while our evolutionary cousins (apparently) were not. My read of it though is meat as we think of it wasn’t necessarily so, primary sources were plants, and bugs, birds, fish and large kill meat were either carrion or in the latter incidental pack-attack on an old and infirm or unattended young.
I minored in archeology at the University of Montana, Lucy was entire semester; though this is not inconsistent with what my grandmothers taught me …
There are cases reported of people who lived for a long time without eating at all. Some were obvious frauds, but some, such as the case of Prahlad Jani, were subjected to controlled monitoring for extended periods without eating and were as healthy at completion as at the start. The most common hypothesis is that some people have a higher dimensional manifestation that is more observable than most; they appear to be solidly in this world, but in some sense really aren’t and draw their energy requirements from sources other than food. Maybe the future of human diet is just not eating.
“Ripleys Believe it or Not,” we are not Eric. While eating less makes a whole lotta of sense, not eating will lead to more serious issues. Death comes to mind.
Perhaps, you were writing this “tongue in cheek and smiling” while writing this?
@Eric,
“some people have a higher dimensional manifestation that is more observable than most; they appear to be solidly in this world, but in some sense really aren’t and draw their energy requirements from sources other than food.”
LOL! What bafflegab!
I’m going with James Randi on this one: James Randi Speaks: Powered by Sunlight “There are no exceptions . . . none!”
Humans will eat whatever is available and easiest to obtain. For Native Americans on the plains that was bison. For coastal tribes that was fish and shellfish. For many agricultural tribes that was corn, beans, and squash, the Three Sisters. Any and all of them would supplement their primary foods with whatever came their way. Game for the agriculturists, and wild grains, berries, and nuts for those whose primary foods were meat or seafoods. Insects and reptiles were on the menu as well.
The natural resources of a geographic area will determine what the mix is for the foods humans eat. Some are more plant based, some meat, and very few if any are exclusively one or the other. People go to great lengths to make some foods non-toxic, soaking and cooking being common methods. That is a lot of trouble to make plants edible if you are a carnivore. Note also that humans (or hominins?) have been processing food to make edible/palatable/more digestible for a long long time.