The Evolutionary Theories Of Human Nutrition

Contrary to popular belief many scientists today believe that the evolutionary theory is somewhat relevant to Human Nutrition. Charles Darwin, an English Naturalist and Geologist quoted in his publication of the ‘Origin of Species’ that over time individuals with the desired traits will successfully reproduce and pass this on to the next generation. As Darwin puts it, it is “an evolutionary mechanism for descent with modification” (Campbell, 2014). This process ‘descent with modification’ came when observing the size and shape of beaks of finches in the Galapagos Islands. Finches with deeper beaks were better able to survive than those with smaller beaks, as they were able to get the large hard seeds.

Although Darwin’s studies were in part

Food supplies were limited. Our ancestors were only able to eat what they could find. Stored energy was encouraged which was then put to later use. “Since foods were limited naturally by their location and season, our ancestors rotated foods naturally” (Blascak, 2009). The season and location of which the foods were found meant that individuals were limited in what they could eat. What was available at the time was eaten. This could have been animal or plant based products. Eating any sorts of food would help them to gain nutrients whether this is valuable to them or not. Evolution would not fit with nutrition because the limit of resources has no purpose in nutrition. Decisions about what foods could be eaten were down to what was available. Our ancestors were not evolved to eat in a certain way but from what could be

Humans are expected to consume more meat and protein in their diets. The change in hunting to farming gave humans more variety so they didn’t have to stick to the same diets that our ancestors had. There have been no cases at all where humans have survived on raw food which implies that cooking could have happened some time during the time in which our ancestors lived. According to Current Biology out of 664 of the identified plant species, humans only used 11% for food compared to chimpanzees that used 30% (Wrangham, 2013). Data from this journal is evidence to humans having adapted and evolved from our species. Humans have evolved to select foods which are best for them to eat. Chimpanzees have long moved away from hunting. This could explain the sudden change of people today moving on from hunting and into farming. Evolution is significant to nutrition in this case because as we evolved we were able to make our own choices about what foods we should eat. The choices shaped us to become the individuals we are today. The unexpected change allowed us with more access to other food resources. This would explain the difference in percentage of plant based foods with humans and chimpanzees. An increased consumption of meat and dairy products increases the amount of nutrition we intake meeting with our daily