Humans evolved to be surprisingly fat – no wonder we struggle with dieting
New Scientist · Sophie Berdugo ·
We have an unprecedented choice of food, yet our diets are worse than ever, says palaeoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman. So what can evolution tell us about how to eat better?
After spending a week with the Hadza community in northern Tanzania, it was time for the last supper. Not wanting to place any extra burden on the hunter-gatherers, Daniel Lieberman and his colleagues had come prepared with a cook and rations. But upon realising there was plenty of food to spare, they decided to throw a dinner party for their hosts.
The menu consisted of the traditional East African cornmeal porridge ugali, along with rice, beans, cabbage and some freshly hunted meat courtesy of the Hadza. But what stands out in Lieberman’s memory was watching their hosts devour the carbs and multiple helpings of cake smothered in a jam frosting. “I was just thinking, this is not the paleo diet,” he recalls.
The paleo diet is just one of several fad diets that hark back to our evolutionary past as a way to eat better today. But as a palaeoanthropologist at Harvard University, Lieberman has long been bothered by the misinformation that underpins these ideas. True, we didn’t evolve for the plethora of culinary choices many of us have now, or for ultra-processed, shelf-stable treats. But as Lieberman knows only too well, these oversimplified diets aren’t the answer.
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