Diet with evolutionary advantage takes cake

[Demi]

Leigh Dayton, Science Writer, in Washington
The Australian
February 26, 2005

OUR ancient ancestors may have taken a well-fed step down the evolutionary path by adopting a prehistoric version of the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet.

This two- to four-million-year-old mega-meat diet would have given early humans a nutritious evolutionary advantage over other species of human-like creatures, ones which foraged for fruits and plants in the same territory, claims Craig Stanford, an anthropologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Speaking at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, Stanford said the Atkins Diet Mark I was different than the meat, meat and more meat approach of contemporary practitioners.

"They weren't buying cartons of eggs from the market and probably ate more raw vegetables, fruits and lean meats than today's heavy-protein advocates," he said.

Still, Stanford claims that by including meat in their diet, ancestral people triggered genetic changes which enabled them to eat more fatty foods without developing heart disease. The change was a mutation to a gene which regulates cholesterol.

Being able to eat everything from seeds and fruit to meat gave early humans an "incredible plasticity" in what they could include in their diet and, thus, where they could live, claims Stanford.

Stanford bases his theory on a 10-year-long study of the diets of lowland gorillas and chimpanzees which share the same 20sq km patch of tropical forest in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda.

Both species eat plants, fruits and nuts, but the chimps' diet includes plenty of antelope and monkey meat. The gorillas only occasionally indulge in a meat meal.

What's more, unlike the gorillas, the chimps use meat in a "social context", bartering it for status and sex.

Because meat-eating separated the early human species so clearly, Stanford concludes it was the "pivotal evolutionary difference" between them, and argues that the idea could be used to help track the path from pre-human to modern people.According to another AAAS speaker, anthropologist Peter Ungar of the University of Arkansas, the notion that ancestral people were meat-eaters fits with the evolution of teeth able to chomp a wide variety of foods.

But like Stanford, Ungar cautions against adopting what may seen to be a "natural diet" laden with fatty foods.


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12361809%255E23289,00.html

[Nancy LC]

What's more, unlike the gorillas, the chimps use meat in a "social context", bartering it for status and sex.

Meat whores! :lol:

[Angeline]

But like Stanford, Ungar cautions against adopting what may seen to be a "natural diet" laden with fatty foods.

LOL. If they had been honest they would have said. This is the most natural and best diet for humans but we caution you against it because we don't want to be sued by some nutter that decides we caused him to develop CHD

[fatnewmom]

I LOVE a fatty prime rib. However, evolutionary-wise, our ancestors ate LEAN game. The animals were in the wild & competition was fierce for survival -- this is quite in contrast with the way meat is raised today. Our meat is much fattier & in more abundant supply. I think the Paleolithic LCers have it right on this one.

Yet as the above article said, our bodies can handle saturated fats! I'll never give up a good steak.

[mcsblues]

I LOVE a fatty prime rib. However, evolutionary-wise, our ancestors ate LEAN game. The animals were in the wild & competition was fierce for survival -- this is quite in contrast with the way meat is raised today. Our meat is much fattier & in more abundant supply. I think the Paleolithic LCers have it right on this one.

Yet as the above article said, our bodies can handle saturated fats! I'll never give up a good steak.

Whilst it is true that wild game meat tends to be leaner, there is quite a lot of research that suggests that at least modern day hunter gatherer populations routinely valued the fattiest bits of the carcass above all others and the Australian aborigines were know to discard the lean meat unless they were starving - and as with most hunter gatherer populations they lived in relatively small groups amongst abundant game - this did not happen often (unlike the communities who turned to agriculture - for whom a crop failure could be spell famine).

[LukeA]

I LOVE a fatty prime rib. However, evolutionary-wise, our ancestors ate LEAN game. The animals were in the wild & competition was fierce for survival -- this is quite in contrast with the way meat is raised today. Our meat is much fattier & in more abundant supply. I think the Paleolithic LCers have it right on this one.

Yet as the above article said, our bodies can handle saturated fats! I'll never give up a good steak.

On top of what mcsblue has already said;

It is entirely untrue that all game and wild meats are lean. For example present day domesticated pigs and cattle are FAR leaner than there original counterparts. With wild game it is also entirely dependant on the area they live. For example venison and antelope can vary drasticly in how lean they are depending on the time of year, the gender, age, and what they have eaten and in what amounts.