Debunking The Paleolithic Diet! Eating Habits of Ancient Humans!

Have you ever wondered what our ancient ancestors ate? Well, their eating habits varied significantly with location and availability of food sources. Some of the foods that were commonly consumed by ancient humans include fish, shellfish, land animals, and tubers. Can you imagine hunting and gathering your own food like they did?

Nowadays, many dietitians are looking to our ancient roots for inspiration in an effort to curb the damage of diet-related health concerns like heart disease and diabetes. The Paleolithic or paleo diet has become a particularly popular dining trend, aimed at reconnecting us with our more primitive selves. According to the Mayo Clinic, the paleo diet focuses on foods that early humans would have eaten in the Paleolithic era, prior to the advent of modern farming around 10,000 years ago. The diet is rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and lean meat while avoiding processed foods, refined sugars, and starch. Sounds pretty healthy right?

But wait! Recent studies have cast doubt on the role of carbs in our ancient ancestors' eating habits. A 2021 report details the findings of a seven-year international study on the oral microbiomes of primates. At the center of the study was an effort to sequence the oral microbiome of a 100,000-year-old Neanderthal - can you believe it? The results uncovered a surprising fact about starch. The 100,000-year-old oral cavity showed the presence of bacteria that are specifically adept at breaking down starch, suggesting that our ancient ancestors had more carbohydrates in their diet than previously thought.

An earlier study showed that humans have more starch-digesting enzymes in their saliva than other primates - who knew? This further suggests that our ancestors specifically evolved to have starchier diets. The research team determined that a diet relatively high in starch was necessary for the advancement of human civilization.

Ancient man also ate plants that you can’t find at a grocery store today such as ferns and cattails. At first glance, the Paleo diet does have a lot of things in common with what the actual Paleolithic man would have eaten. The diet is comprised mainly of meats and fish that could have been hunted by prehistoric man and plant matter that would have been gathered including nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits.

Isn't it fascinating to learn about how our ancient ancestors ate?

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