Evolution and Diet: Using Our Ancestral Roots to Lose Weight

New diet plans emerge constantly, often conflicting with one another but always having only a pinch of truth. In a search to have the body of a Greek God while eating ice cream at their heart's desire, Americans constantly seek a magical diet plan where they can fulfill both of these aspirations. However, quick and simple diet plans often fail because the physiological cravings of humans will overcome the willpower of a dieter; but such failings are not without good cause. Ancestral human species evolved unique food cravings in their move away from the tree branches, which still persist today. Though adding frustration in choosing a diet plan today, the unique nutritional regime of early human ancestors played a key role in giving both physical and social form to modern man.

Most modern primate species subsist on fruits and other vegetation found growing on tree branches. While also occasionally known to eat meat, the main emphasis of their diet relies on plant matter. This in itself influenced human evolution, as early cannibalistic practices of prehistoric man resulted in widespread gene loci for resistance to prion diseases, such as Kuru and "mad-cow disease", in response to early consumption of infected individuals (Mead et al). Consumption of infected brain tissue can in turn infect the eater, a problem only for carnivorous species; no such gene is found in other modern primates, as their diets consist primarily of vegetation. But more importantly, the origins of this habit may very well have separated mankind's earliest ancestor from all other primate species of the time. The meat consumption routine of modern humans arose from the actions of an earlier primate ancestor, drawn to the ground and its plentiful food sources for a variety of reasons.