Beyond the Paleolithic prescription: incorporating diversit

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Beyond the Paleolithic prescription: incorporating diversity and flexibility in the study of human diet evolution



Beyond the Paleolithic prescription: incorporating diversity and flexibility in the study of human diet evolution
Bethany L Turner and Amanda L Thompson

Evolutionary paradigms of human health and nutrition center on the evolutionary
discordance or “mismatch” model in which human bodies, reflecting adaptations
established in the Paleolithic era, are ill-suited to modern industrialized diets,
resultinginrapidlyincreasingratesofchronicmetabolicdisease.Thoughthismodel
remains useful, its utility in explaining the evolution of human dietary tendencies is
limited.Theassumptionthathumandietsaremismatchedtotheevolvedbiologyof
humans implies that the human diet is instinctual or genetically determined and
rooted in the Paleolithic era. This review looks at current research indicating that
human eating habits are learned primarily through behavioral, social, and
physiological mechanisms that start in utero and extend throughout the life course.
Adaptations that appear to be strongly genetic likely reflect Neolithic, rather
than Paleolithic, adaptations and are significantly influenced by human
niche-constructing behavior. Several examples are used to conclude that
incorporating a broader understanding of both the evolved mechanisms by which
humanslearnandimprinteatinghabitsandthereciprocaleffectsofthosehabitson
physiology would provide useful tools for structuring more lasting nutrition
interventions

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Merely thinking about one’s favorite foods has been shown to activate brain centers for long-term and associative memory
and, possibly, the primary olfactory cortex.

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rat models demonstrate that sugar can act to change dopamine and opioid receptor binding in the nucleus accumbens of the brain, prompting a reward response similar to that observed in (and thus likely co-opted by) narcotics.

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However, circulating levels of leptin, a hormone involved in energy regulation, and sex steroids also appear to
influence sweet taste perception and preference in humans.