I was always pretty skeptical about claims that eating a meat-centric diet led to the rapid brain development of our ancient ancestors. I mean, if it was such a healthy diet back then, then why is it so unhealthy now. A new study of bacteria collected from Neanderthal teeth shows that our close cousins ate so many roots, nuts, or other starchy foods that they dramatically altered the type of bacteria in their mouths. The finding suggests our ancestors had adapted to eating lots of starch by at least 600,000 years ago—about the same time as they needed more sugars to fuel a big expansion of their brains.
"For human ancestors to efficiently grow a bigger brain, they needed energy dense foods containing glucose"—a type of sugar—says molecular archaeologist Christina Warinner of Harvard and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. "Meat is not a good source of glucose."
Our source for this meme is science.org
"For human ancestors to efficiently grow a bigger brain, they needed energy dense foods containing glucose"—a type of sugar—says molecular archaeologist Christina Warinner of Harvard and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. "Meat is not a good source of glucose."
Our source for this meme is science.org
Meme, Diet, Plant-Based, Glucose, Starch, Fruit, Ancient, Neanderthal, Brain, Development, History, Prehistory, DNA, Bacteria