- During much of human evolution there has been selection for increased dietary
flexibility. Much of our dietary evolution suggests a broad range of food items.
- Fallback foods are regarded as low-ranking foods that are often relied on during periods
of seasonal stress. Low-ranking resources most strongly shaped nutritional adaptations
over evolutionary time, more so than did the ? ?average dietary conditions.
- During early hominin evolution, there is evidence of exploitation of tough foods,
producing rapid tooth wear and selection for large molars, thick enamel, and craniofacial
robust city.
- Recent chemical and micro wear analyses suggest that the australopithecines may have
exploited cereals, grasses, and sedges more than was previously thought.
- The emergence of early Homo is associated with a reduction in man dibular size, robust
city, enamel thickness, and but-stressing of mastication. These changes suggest a shift in
food use patterns and/or food processing.
- Early Homo specimens in different parts of the Old World vary in body size, raising
questions about when human body size and proportions fully emerged. Many inter-
predations of the greater importance of animal foods with Homo are due to the ubiquity
of stone tools and animal bones.
- In addition to meeting nutritional needs, animal foods also may have been associated with
assisting in the colonization of new environments for homo allowing them to converge on
a common dietary niche under different environmental conditions. In contrast to the
Neanderthals, Upper Paleolithic humans appeared to forage on a broader and more
geographically variable range of plants and animals. With the origins of agriculture, there
was a shift again to more extensive exploitation of plants, including cereals.
- Examples of potential genetic adaptations to distinctive human dietary practices were
lactase persistence, amylase and starch digestion, alcohol metabolism, and skin color and
vitamin D metabolism. The ability, after the weaning age, to digest lactose was seen as
the strongest case of natural selection for a particular dietary adaptation. Selection is
episodic, acting most strongly during lean times. Consumption of milk and dairy products
acts as ? ?buffering‘‘ for the bad times during farming lows. When the going got tough,
lactase persistence allowed farming people to drink milk without having diarrhea.
Titany answered the question on November 5, 2021 at 06:30