Banannas cont.

[Guest guest]

The diet of these monkeys (which is also

considered the common diet <br>among monkeys and apes

worldwide) consisted of berries, figs, grapes,

<br>palmfruits, plum-like fruits, and many different leaves. " We

know people <br>are not monkeys, and most people don't

eat wild plants " says Milton. <br> " But I was still

surprised that their diet is so much more nutritious

<br>than our own. " The fruits that the monkeys ate

contained higher levels <br>of calcium, potassium and iron

than the cultivated varieties found in <br>American

supermarkets. Milton also found that monkeys ate a high content

<br>of alpha-linolenic acid(the short chain omega-3

fatty acid), a nutrient <br>that is lacking in the

diets of most humans. Not only are wild varieties

<br>of fruits and leaves generally more nutritious than

grocery store <br>versions, but the monkeys also tended

to eat the most nutritious parts, <br>gobbling up,

for instance, only the tip of a young, tender leaf

and <br>discarding the rest. " Young leaf tips have

the same profile of essential <br>amino acids as

meat, although in lower concentrations. I had always

<br>assumed leafy material was deficient in some amino acids,

but it is <br>not, " she says. Although scientists

don't really know how the monkeys do <br>it, they

apparently use smell to figure out which are the

<br>ultra-nutritious morsels, she says. " A monkey can sniff a wild

leaf and <br>know instantly if the leaf is worth

eating. Even when they're hungry, <br>they'll shun leaves

they deem not to be worth their while. " <br><br>(1)

Interesting here: the scientists realizing that leaves are

complete <br>in their protein (essential amino acids)

content. Monkeys get their <br>protein from fruits and

vegetables, we should do the same. But let’s go <br>back to

the article: <br><br>Obviously, humans can't roam the

jungles for food, she says. " Our <br>digestive systems

can't handle that much bulky raw plant food anymore.

<br>Milton says she is not advocating a megavitamin or a

vegetarian diet. " I <br>eat meat, and I think meat

consumption was of critical importance in <br>human

evolution, " she says. In another paper, published this month

in <br>Evolutionary Anthropology, she writes that

meat eating may have been the <br>crucial step in

human evolution. " In the Savannah environment where the

<br>earliest humans are thought to have evolved, choice fruits

and <br>vegetables just weren't available. " " Human

ancestors who could get their <br>essential amino acids and

vitamins and minerals from a handful of meat <br>were then

free to forage for high-energy plants loaded primarily

with <br>carbohydrates. " The increase in

carbohydrates " , Milton speculates, " gave <br>humans the high

glucose levels required for an active -- and

<br>increasingly larger -- brain. <br><br>(2) The authors should

have said: " I like meat, and I don’t want to give

<br>it up " but instead they have chosen to use the

stupid argument that meat <br>made humans evolve,

without explaining how this mysterious process

<br>actually occurred. If meat is a second-choice food, how

can it have made <br>us evolve? The idea is that they

didn’t have to spend so much time to <br>eat amino acids

in plants and could get them from meat, so the time

left <br>over could be used to " evolve. " But we only

need a small amount of <br>protein and it doesn’t take

so much food to provide that. But let’s go <br>back

to the article: <br><br>Today, and throughout our

history, humans have suffered from all sorts <br>of

diet-related disease. Milton suggests that if we pay more

attention <br>to what our wild primate relatives are

eating, and studied these wild <br>plants more closely,

and the ability of primates to assimilate vitamins

<br>and minerals, perhaps we could learn more about our

own dietary needs, <br>reduce health problems and

benefit people worldwide.