The "Real" Human Diet

The natural human diet has been a topic of debate for thousands of years. Current day human diet ranges from population to population, all across the globe. What is is typically eaten in one country may vary drastically in another. In addition, there are various eating approaches such as the atkin’s diet, ketogenic diet, paleo diet, raw food diet, the blood type diet, the vegan diet and much more, some of which were already discussed in a previous blog entry. Different people consume a wide variety of foods for an array of reasons-- with one of the primary reasons being the desire to live a healthier life. Yet, there’s always the major question of, “Why not just eat what we’re meant to eat, as well as the healthiest foods available to us?” One reason that we cannot do this is because, as all these new rules in relation to food consumption are being developed in order to figure out what we should and what we shouldn’t consume, the “real” human diet becomes hidden and blurred.

There is no concise definition as to what we, as humans, are truly meant to eat since the world is constantly evolving and so are organisms and their body. However, arguments can be made based on the anatomical features of humans and our caveman ancestors’ diets. As many of us choose to eat both meat and plants, humans are commonly known as omnivores. However, whether we are truly meant to be omnivores, herbivores, or carnivores is a highly argued field. The gastric acid in human stomachs contain the main digestive enzyme pepsin at a pH between 1.5 to 3.5, whereas carnivore stomach acid contains high levels of hydrochloric acid at a pH of 1 to 2. The lower pH of carnivores allows protein digestion, and the higher pH level of human stomach acid perhaps indicates the appropriate level of meat that we are meant to eat.

An animal's intestines are also a good indicator of what its diet is meant to be. Carnivores tend to have shorter intestinal tracts because meats can still rot in the intestine if kept in for too long, developing a high risk of colon cancer. Humans have long coiled intestines, similar to cows and horses , both of which are herbivores. Longer intestines allow more time to break down fiber and absorb nutrients from plant-based foods. The first primates were a plant-eating species, and fossilised jaws of primates depict such a diet. Naturally, as higher primates developed and started to migrate, resources in the environment changed. Meat eating began in the past 300,000 years with the advent of Homo erectus and over time, in order to survive different environments, humans become omnivores. Humans evolved from originally being strictly plant eaters, consuming high content of meat and then now becoming omnivores.

As the human population continues to increase, the question of diet has taken on new urgency. Until the development of agriculture 10,000 years ago, the significantly lower population of humans on Earth counted on hunting and gathering as their food source. Now, so many foods and produce are so easily accessible, and this has vastly changed our diets. Regardless of which side of the argument one lies on, it can be seen that most current day humans are omnivores, especially due to the modern day’s diets and the variety of options available. Our survival instinct allows us to adapt to our environment, but with the easy accessibility of most foods, we succumb to eating certain, unhealthy foods in larger amounts than advised.

References:

Gibbons, A., & Paley, M. (2013). The Evolution of Diet. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/evolution-of-diet/.

Here Are the Real Facts About Humans and Meat. (2018, January 23). Retrieved from https://www.peta.org/living/food/really-natural-truth-humans-eating-meat/. 
Juliet. (2019, October 10). What is our natural diet? Are humans evolutionarily adapted to eat animals, plants or both? Retrieved from https://www.vivahealth.org.uk/healthfeatures/what-our-natural-diet-are-humans-evolutionarily-adapted-eat-animals-plants-or-both.