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Scientists slam the caveman diet - and say early humans just
ate whatever they could to survive and reproduce
Team say early humans ate very much like modern pigs and bear
Were 'simply acquiring enough calories to survive and reproduce.'
Paleo diet that mimics their diet has become hugely popular
By Mark Prigg for MailOnline
Published: 20:49 GMT, 17 December 2014 | Updated: 20:55 GMT, 17 December 2014
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Scientists have hit out at the so-called 'caveman diet' - pointing out that early humans simply ate what they could
to survive.
The paleo diet is a weight-lose craze where calorie-counters pick plants and animals they think early humans
may have eaten.
But researchers warned early humans did not live for as long as modern mankind and dieters needed to consider
the long-term effects of any specific diet.

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Early humans ate very much like modern pigs and bear and were 'simply acquiring enough calories to survive and
reproduce.' the researchers said

WHAT EARLY MAN ATE

Hunter-gatherers in cold northern climes would have had an almost exclusive animal-derived diet but those living
near the equator would have eaten more plants and fruits.
While early hominids were not great hunters, and their teeth was not great for exploiting many specific categories
of plant food, they were most likely dietary 'jacks-of-all-trades.'
In facts early humans ate very much like modern pigs and bear and were 'simply acquiring enough calories to
survive and reproduce.'
And although cream cakes did not exist in our ancestral diets, 'our ancestors would have eaten them if they grew
on trees.'
It said hunter-gatherers in cold northern climes would have had an almost exclusive animal-derived diet but those
living near the equator would have eaten more plants and fruits.
While early hominids were not great hunters, and their teeth was not great for exploiting many specific categories
of plant food, they were most likely dietary 'jacks-of-all-trades.'
The new research showed ancestral diets differed substantially over time and what early humans ate was almost
certainly much broader than now.
Dr Ken Sayers, a postdoctoral researcher from Georgia State University, said: 'Throughout the vast majority of
our evolutionary history, balancing the diet was not a big issue.

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'They were simply acquiring enough calories to survive and reproduce.
'When you're trying to reconstruct the diet of human ancestors, you want to look at a number of things, including
the habitats they lived in, the potential foods that were available, how valuable those various food items would
have been in relation to their energy content and how long it takes to handle a food item.

THE WORST CELEBRITY DIETS

Earlier this year The British Dietetic Association said that despite endorsements by the rich and famous, fad diets
are not the best way to lose weight.
Its annual list of the worst celebrity diets includes the popular Paleo or Caveman diet.
Said to be followed by stars Matthew McConaughey and Megan Fox, it advises eating like our stone age
ancestors and avoiding modern foods such as bread, pasta, cereal and dairy products.
'Based on evidence that's been gathered over many decades, there's very little evidence that any early hominids
had very specialised diets or there were specific food categories that seemed particularly important, with only a
few possible exceptions.
'Some earlier workers had suggested that the diets of bears and pigs - which have an omnivorous, eclectic
feeding strategy that varies greatly based on local conditions - share much in common with those of our early
ancestors.'
The review paper published in The Quarterly Review of Biology covers earliest hominid evolution, from about 6 to

1.6 million years ago touching on the beginning of the Paleolithic era, which spans from 2.6 million to roughly
10,000 years ago.
But Dr Sayers suggested that the conclusions hold in force for later human evolution as well.
What is the Paleo diet? Inside the latest food trend

It examined anatomical, paleoenvironmental and chemical evidence, as well as the feeding behaviour of living
animals.
early humans ate very much like modern pigs and bear and were simply acquiring enough calories to survive and
reproduce
Dr Sayers said: 'There's more to dietary reconstruction than looking at teeth from a chemical perspective or under
a microscope.
'It involves characterising the environment and taking into consideration factors as disparate as locomotion,
digestion and cognitive abilities.'
'Individuals throughout the vast majority of the Stone Age were not living that long. Life expectancies are so high
today, at least in many regions of the globe.
'A lot of the diseases that do come about today or have been linked with high-fat diets or things like that have
been referred to by some researchers as 'diseases of affluence.'
'They're diseases that come about simply because we're living long enough that they can show their effects.'
Scientists also found modern foods have resulted from cultivation and evolution pointing out langur monkeys
living high in the Nepal Himalaya would stay clear of wild strawberries on the ground because of their bitterness.
Yet modern strawberries have been selected to be large and sweet adding: 'The foods that we're eating today,
even in the case of fruits and vegetables, have been selected for desirable properties and would differ from what
our ancestors were eating.'

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