Over time, animals adapt to the foods they regularly consume. This is how archaeologists can, for example, determine that Triceratops was an herbivore and Tyrannosaurus was a carnivore just by looking at the structure of the skeleton. Adaptations to diet extend beyond skeletal structure, into digestion, metabolism, the brain, musculature, and other aspects of physical function. What is our evolutionary history with meat?Human Evolutionary History with Meat: 200 to 2.6 Million Years AgoMammals evolved from ancestral "mammal-like reptiles" (therapsids, then cynodonts) approximately 220 million years ago (Richard Klein. The Human Career. 2009). Roughly 100 million years ago, placental mammals emerged. The...
Food Reward Friday
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This week's lucky "winner"... the pumpkin spice latte!!Read more...
Is Meat Unhealthy? Part I
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IntroductionAt Dr. McDougall's Advanced Study Weekend, I had the opportunity to hear a number of researchers and advocates make the case for a "plant-based diet", which is a diet containing little or no animal foods. Many of them voiced the opinion that animal foods contribute substantially to the primary killers in the US, such as heart disease and cancer. Some of the evidence they presented was provocative and compelling, so it stimulated me to take a deeper look and come to my own conclusions. No matter what the health implications of meat eating turn out to be, I respect vegetarians and vegans. Most of them are conscientious, responsible people who make daily personal sacrifices to try to make the world a better place...
Obesity → Diabetes
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A new study adds to the evidence that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is rapidly increasing in the US, and our national weight problem is largely to blame.The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) currently estimates that a jaw-dropping 33 percent of US men, and 39 percent of US women, will develop diabetes at some point in their lives (1). Roughly one out of three people in this country will develop diabetes, and those who don't manage it effectively will suffer debilitating health consequences. Has the risk of developing diabetes always been so high, and if not, why is it increasing?In the same issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine as the low-carb vs. low-fat study, appears another study that aims to partially address this question...
Metabolic Effects of a Traditional Asian High-carbohydrate Diet
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A recent study supports the notion that an 'ancestral diet' focused around high-starch agricultural foods can cultivate leanness and metabolic health.John McDougall gave Christopher Gardner a hard time at the McDougall Advanced Study Weekend. Dr. Gardner conducts high-profile randomized controlled trials (RCTs) at Stanford to compare the effectiveness of a variety of diets for weight loss, cardiovascular and metabolic health. The "A to Z Study", in which Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and LEARN diets were pitted against one another for one year, is one of his best-known trials (1). Dr. McDougall asked a simple question: why haven't these trials evaluated the diet that has sustained the large majority of the world's population for the last...