ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH REVEALS HUMAN DIETARY REQUIREMENTS

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ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH REVEALS HUMAN DIETARY REQUIREMENTS

FOR OPTIMAL HEALTH

H. Leon Abrams, Jr., MA, EDS

Associate Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, ECJC,

University System of Georgia, Swainsboro, Georgia.

 

Journal of Applied Nutrition, 1982, 16:1:38-45

 

Reprinted with permission of the author.

 

Many claims are set forth stating what the “natural” diet of humans is or should

be, but in order to ascertain what constitutes the basic dietary requirements

for optimal health, the problem must be approached from an anthropological

perspective which encompasses the total dietary evolution and history of

mankind, a scrutinization and syntheses of human diets from the earliest times

to the present, the diets of mankind’s nearest relatives, the primates, and

cross-cultural dietary comparisons of primitive and modern societies.

 

There are one hundred and ninety-two living higher species of primates in

addition to humans. (30) Until recently, it was taken for granted that all

monkeys and apes were vegetarians, but ethological studies (1, 2, 12) revealed

that all primates, in their natural habitat, also eat small animals. The

National Zoo in Washington attempted to breed the Amazon Golden Marmoset monkey

in captivity, but failed until animal protein was added to their diet. (5) It

had been erroneously assumed that they were complete vegetarians, but apparently

they must have some animal protein in order to be fertile. With the addition of

animal protein, they reproduce rapidly in captivity. (5)

 

Until the research of Goodall (16, 52) it was assumed that Chimpanzees eat only

plant foods, but she discovered that they kill and eat monkeys, baby baboons,

and other small animals and concluded that there was a small but fairly regular

number of them captured and eaten throughout the year. Gibbons, orangutans, and

baboons also kill and eat small animals regularly. (35, 44) The simplest of all

primates, the tree shrew, which resembles the supposed ancestor of today’s

primates most closely, lives entirely on small animals. Ethological studies have

necessitated the reclassification of monkeys and apes from herbivores to

omnivores, and indicate that all primates have a basic need for some animal

protein in their diet if health is to be maintained. (1)

 

The first humans, the Australopithecines (9, 11, 54) (and Homo habilis), who

appeared around four million years ago, included food plants in their diets, but

they apparently ate a large number of small animals and were scavengers; they

ate the remains of any large animals they could find, and therefore were able to

secure a large amount of meat. (43) Around one million years ago, man had

evolved into Homo Erectur (Peking and Java Man), and had greatly increased his

ability to hunt large game. His life centered entirely around the hunt for game

(4, 20, 50). Following in the evolutionary sequence was Neanderthal man (early

Homo Sapiens), followed by Cro-Magnon Man. (36) Again, there has been a

progressive increase in the hunting technology especially for large game. The

driving force that compelled Cro-Magnon man to all unpopulated parts of the

inhabitable world was his quest for game. Actually, the disappearance of many

game species, such as the wild horse, mammoth, et. al., was not

due to climatic change, but to man hunting them to extinction in his quest for

meat. (7, 28) From the very beginning , the diet of humans has been meat

oriented, therefore the evidence seems to warrant the conclusion that our human

progenitors, from the very beginning around four million years ago, have relied

heavily upon meat as a major source of food; they were omnivorous, but the

emphasis was on meat, not on plant foods. (7) Man turned only to agriculture,

which began around 10,000 years ago, when he had largely exhausted the seemingly

endless supply of game due to his ever increasing population. (7)

 

Of humans some four million years on earth, 99% of this time has been that of

hunting game and gathering wild plants. (21) And, when the animals had been

hunted to either extinction or near extinction, then and only then did humans

turn to agriculture and animal domestication. (7) However, when humans turned to

agriculture, a large percentage of the crops was devoted to rearing domesticated

animals for meat. Meat has been, and remains so when available, the choice food

of mankind because it supplies all the nutrients, amino acids, minerals,

vitamins, and essential elements necessary to sustain sound health. For example,

the surest source of vitamin B-12 is animal protein. (2)

 

No cultures or people in the world have ever been 100% vegetarians; however, a

number, such as the Masai of Africa (25, 26), Plains Indians (7), the Eskimo

(29, 42, 47, 48, 49) and the Lapps (34), in their traditional culture, subsist

almost entirely on meat and have been very healthy. When they adapted to our

modern diet which is high in refined carbohydrates, their health deteriorated

rapidly; they developed a high incidence of degenerative diseases characteristic

of our modern civilization, especially heart disease. (2)

 

In 1957, several hypotheses maintained that there is a direct relationship

between diet, especially animal fats, and coronary heart disease and cancer of

the colon. (19) All of these studies are controversial because a large

percentage of the supporting data has been epidemiological in nature, and many

studies contradictory to these findings have been made (13, 14, 15, 22, 24, 25,

26, 27, 31, 32, 51).

 

The publicity given these studies implicating foods containing cholesterol and

saturated fats, such as “red meat,” in causing heart disease and cancer, has

prompted many people to adopt, erroneously, a total or partial vegetarian diet

in the hope of maintaining or restoring sound health and thus avoiding heart

disease and cancer. (2)

 

For example, Puerto Ricans eat a large amount of animal fat, but have a very low

rate of colon cancer and breast cancer. (13) A comparative study on the

incidence of colon and breast cancer was carried out in Finland and the

Netherlands because both peoples consume about the same amount of animal fat per

capita per day. Even though the animal fat consumption was the same, breast and

colon cancer rates in the Netherlands was discovered to be almost double that of

Finland although vegetable oil consumption in the Netherlands in much higher

than in Finland. (13)

 

Weidman and his colleagues (53) carried our a cross-cultural study, with a

follow-up, centered on specific adult risk factors for atherosclerosis in 103

white school children ranging in age from six to sixteen; and concluded that

diet is not of major importance in having an impact on serum cholesterol levels.

(53) Although Americans have been recommended to eat a diet moderate in

cholesterol and calories, if carried too far it may result in some high risk

factors for children and especially for those who show low serum cholesterol

levels. (53)

 

A study conducted by N.E. Hitchcock and M. Bracey in the town of Busselton,

Western Australia, contradicts the orthodox view that diet is closely correlated

with the body’s level of serum cholesterol content indicating a high risk for

heart attack. (17) They studied three groups of mothers and children at

Busselton; one with high cholesterol, one with medium and one with low

cholesterol levels. They studied the diet patterns of each group and found no

significant difference among them in the percentage of daily energy contribution

of protein, fat or carbohydrates. They also noted that obesity was not a factor

in the cholesterol level since the levels or the obese did not differ from the

non-obese. They concluded that the result of their study strongly indicates that

diet does not account for the differences in cholesterol levels of culturally

homogenous groups. They further state that the “correlation between habitual

diet and average serum cholesterol levels is good between

contrasting populations (for example, people of Japan and Finland),” and note

that “within a given culture, people eating the same kind of food can have

different serum lipids. Those who develop coronary heart disease do not

necessarily eat differently from those who do not.” (17)

 

As a result of the widespread publicity and promotion of vegetable oils,

millions of Americans are convinced that by not eating meat, eggs, and dairy

products and by consuming only plant fats (polyunsaturated fats), that they will

greatly reduce their chances of suffering from heart disease that afflicts and

kills a million or more Americans every year. Scrutinization of the facts shows

that they have been lulled into a sense of false security. (23) They fail to

know or understand the following facts that are never carried in the

advertisements:

 

1. There is no positive or direct scientific proof that eating foods high in

cholesterol raises serum cholesterol levels. (23)

 

2. There is no positive or direct proof that high cholesterol levels results in

heart disease. (23)

 

3. There is no positive or direct proof that lowering cholesterol levels will

reduce one’s susceptibility to heart disease. (23)

 

4. Consuming great quantities of polyunsaturated fats or oils may be detrimental

to health. (23)

 

The present state of knowledge in the cholesterol diet controversy has been

evaluated by Reiser, who stated that the assumption that serum cholesterol is

directly related to saturated (animal fats) and cholesterol in the diet is based

upon three erroneous assumptions as follows:

 

1. That each person is at equal risk of heart disease in proportion to how much

animal fat and cholesterol is included in the diet.

 

2. One’s risk of coronary heart disease will increase with the rise of serum

cholesterol.

 

3. One can control the rise in serum cholesterol by eliminating animal fats and

cholesterol containing foods.

 

He categorically sets forth clinical data that the above assumptions are invalid

when subjected to strict scientific investigation and do not provide

justification for people eliminating all animal fats and meat from their diet.

(38, 39, 40)

 

Michael DeBakey, world renowned heart surgeon from Houston, who has devoted

extensive research into the cholesterol coronary disease theory, states that out

of every ten people in the United States who have atherosclerotic heart disease,

only three or four of these ten have high cholesterol levels; this is

approximately the identical rate of elevated cholesterol found in the general

population. (10) His comment: “If you say cholesterol is the cause, how do you

explain the other 60 percent to 70 percent with heart disease who don’t have a

high cholesterol?” In 1964 DeBakey made an analysis of cholesterol levels from

usual hospital laboratory testing of 1,700 patients with atherosclerotic disease

and found there was no positive or definitive relationship or correlation

between serum cholesterol levels and the extent or nature of atherosclerotic

disease. (10)

 

A comparative study of men in Crete and the village of Crevalcore, Italy,

indicates that there is probably no relationship between serum cholesterol and

coronary heart disease when the level is 245 mg of cholesterol per 100ml. (38,

39, 40) The men in Crete show serum cholesterol levels of 200mg/dl and have an

incidence of less than one coronary heart disease per 100 men in five years. In

contrast, the men in Crevalcore with similar serum cholesterol levels suffer an

incidence of approximately six cases of coronary heart disease in five years.

(38, 39, 40)

 

Many questions are being asked about the generally accepted and greatly

advertised theory that consumption of saturated fatty acids (beef, lamb, mutton,

butter, and pork) are major factors contributing to hypercholesterolemia and

heart disease, while the consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids (vegetable

oils) will prevent coronary heart disease. Rivers states that the trend toward

eating so much margarine and other vegetable oil products may be “exactly the

wrong thing,” and explains that because polyunsaturates are very unstable, extra

polyunsaturated fatty acids are added by substituting soft margarines and

stabilized vegetable oils for animal fats and butter. The difficulty is, he

continued, that the two changes lead to a dramatic increase in the eating of

trans-fatty acids that results in hypercholesterolemic effects that far outweigh

the reported benefits of polyunsaturated fats. (41)

 

It seems that the human body requires some essential polyunsaturated fatty acids

such as linoleic and arachidonic acid, but the established requirement seems to

be only approximately 1% of calories. (18) Studies strongly indicate that large

consumption of margarine, and other polyunsaturated vegetable fats, may be

conducive to cancer. (37) Animal experiments found that rats fed a chemical

carcinogen in addition to 20% vegetable polyunsaturated fat and a much higher

incidence of tumors than when fed a carcinogenic with animal fat. (37) In a

similar experiment, rats treated with a carcinogen and given 5% corn oil had a

3.5 times higher incidence of colon tumors that did rats who were maintained on

5% lard. (37)

 

Studies have also linked a high intake of polyunsaturates, which is probably

over 10% of the average American’s diet, with vitamin deficiencies, liver

damage, premature aging, nutritional muscular dystrophy, cancer, and severe

blood disease in infants. (23) Polyunsaturated fatty acids are believed to be

highly reactive chemical compounds that render them possibly harmful; they can

be oxidized by ordinary cooking in one’s body when they react with nitrous oxide

in smog, from X-rays and sunlight and some trace metals such as iron. (23)

Passwater states that of fourteen tests conducted, all showed a high correlation

between eating high amounts of polyunsaturates in the form of corn oil, peanut

oil, margarines, soybean oil, et al., and notes that presently Americans eat two

to three times more vegetable oils than were consumed sixty years ago. He

stresses that only from two to four percent of one’s diet should consist of

vegetable fats. (33)

 

Most hunting and gathering societies eat a large amount of meat. The classical

example is the Eskimo who lived almost entirely on land and sea mammals, fish

and birds. Anthropologist Vilhjalmur Steffansson, who spent many years living

with the Eskimo around the turn of the century, found that they were in

excellent health and remained so as long as they maintained their traditional

diet. (47) It was discovered that as long as they ate fresh meat, they obtained

an ample supply of vitamin C which was previously thought to come only from

plant sources. However, cooking at high temperatures destroys vitamin C in both

meat and plant foods.

 

Although it was accepted that the Eskimo thrived in a high state of good health

on an almost complete meat diet, authorities stated that the diet would probably

be harmful for Europeans. To prove the thesis that a 100% meat diet is

sufficient for sound health, Vilhjalmur Steffansson and Karsten Anderson

submitted themselves to an experiment conducted by The Russell Sage Institute of

Pathology at Bellevue Hospital, an affiliate of the Medical College of Cornell

University. For a period of one year, they ate only fresh meat in the ratio of

two pounds of fresh lean meat to one-half pound of fat per day. Steffansson, who

had been on the Eskimo diet for years, remained in good health, while Anderson

was found to be in much better physical condition than when he began the

experiment. (47) Steffansson continued to live on the Eskimo diet for many

decades, in very good health, until his death at the age of 83.

 

Otto Schaeffer, a specialist in internal medicine and director of the Northern

Medical Research Unit at Charles Campbell Hospital, Arctic Canada, found that as

long as the Eskimo lived on his native diet in the traditional manner, he

remained in sound health and was practically free from degenerative diseases,

especially those that afflict Americans. (42) He reports that with the adoption

of the white man’s diet, which consists largely of refined carbohydrates (sugar,

white flour), processed polyunsaturated fats, and other processed foods, the

Eskimo is widely afflicted with all the degenerative diseases common to our

modern society. (42)

 

There is a relationship between diet and degenerative diseases, but the total

history of mankind strongly indicates that the relationship is not one of

consuming meat and animal fats. Anthropological data strongly suggest that as

human societies developed a greater dependence on cereal grain crops and other

carbohydrate foods, such was accompanied by undermining the health adaptations

of food-producing populations unless they were successfully able to maintain a

balance between meat and animal protein and their relatively low content protein

plant crops such as rice, wheat, barley, potatoes, and corn. (6, 34) Since the

last century, this deterioration has been accelerated to a very high level due

to the ever increasing use of sugar (55, 56, 57, 58), refined white flour,

coffee and other caffeinated beverages, excessive consumption of salt, alcohol,

chemical preservatives, synthetic, processed and junk foods. (2)

 

it is in investigating the relationship of the effects that these foods have

upon the body, including smoking, that will probably be most fruitful in

providing answers to the ever increasing rate of degenerative diseases.

 

Anthropological research proves that humans are both animal and plant eaters,

but of the two, animal foods are essential in human nutrition. (2) The wisest

diet is no doubt the one humans have followed for millions of years, a diet that

emphasizes fresh meat or animal protein supplemented with wholesome plant foods

augmented by ample exercise.

 

References

 

1. Abrams, H. Leon, Jr., “The Relevance of Paleolithic Diet in Determining

Contemporary Nutritional Needs,” J. Applied Nutr. 31:43-59. (1979).

 

2. Abrams, H. Leon, Jr., “Vegetarianism: AnAnthropological/Nutritional

Evaluation,” J. Applied Nutr. 32:53-87. (1980).

 

3. Bates, Marston, Gluttons and Libertines, New York, Random House, pp. 48-49,

(1967).

 

4. Braidwood, Robert J., Prehistoric Men, 8th edition, Glenville, Ill., Scott,

Foresman and Co., pp. 52-113, (1975).

 

5. Campbell, Sheldon, “Noah’s Ark in Tomorrow’s Zoo; Animals are a-comin’,

two-by-two,” Smithsonian, 8:42-50, (1978).

 

6. Cassidy, C.M., “Nutrition and Health in Agriculturalists and

Hunter-Gatherers,” Nutrtional Anthropology, Jerome, Norge W., Randy F. Kandel

and Frettel H. Pelto, editors, Pleasantville, New York, pp. 117-179, (1980).

 

7. Cohen, Mark Nathan, The Food Crisis in Pre-History, New Haven, Yale

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8. Constable, George, The Neanderthals, New York, Time-Life Books, (1973).

 

9. Dart, Raymond, Adventures With the Missing Link, New York, Viking Press, p.

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10. De Bakey, Michael, JAMA, 189:655-659, (1964).

 

11. Edey, Maitland A and The Editors of Time-Life Books, The Missing Link, New

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26. Mann, GV, “Diet and Disease Among the Milk and Meat Eating Masai Warrior of

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27. Mann, GV. N Engl J Med. 297:644, 1977.

 

28. Martin, Paul S., “Pleistocene Overkill,” Natural History, 76:32-38, 1967.

 

29. Martin, Paul, “Eskimos, Shocking Example to Us All, Primitive Diets vs Junk

Food,” Let’s Live, pp. 25-28, June, 1977.

 

30. Morris, Desmond, The Naked Ape, New York, MCGraw Hill, p. 9, 1967.

 

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32. Nichols, AB, C Ravenscroft, DE Lamphiear, and LD Ostrander, “Independence of

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41. Rivers, John, Nature Mag., 270-2, 1977.

 

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44. Search For the Great Apes, a documentary film on the ethological research on

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55. Yudkin, John, “Sugar Consumption and Myocardial Infarction,” Lancet,

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58. Yudkin, John, “Dietary Fat and Dietary Sugar in Relation to Ischemic Heart

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