Hi Steven. Sorry it took so long to reply, but I did go back and look at all of the research presented in the talk you linked. I didn’t notice anything else linked in your article that would direct me to peer-reviewed information or current research.
Dr. Eades is very adamant that stable isotopes can prove we eat a meat based diet. Although this could have been true, there is a lot of new research coming out against a more carnivorous diet in regards to neanderthal, homo erectus, and finally homo sapiens.
First of all, although measuring isotopes does tell us about the elements present in the animals early humans might’ve eaten, many scientists agree that the plant matter they consume is masked in measuring this way. We can’t tell what plants they may have eaten, and we can’t say that they only ate meat from measuring these isotopes.
There was also research published shortly after the papers he presented that indicated cooking may increase and concentrate the amount of certain elements measured in stable isotope analysis. We do know that early modern humans started cooking food, and even neanderthals did too. Was their measurement so high because of this? We don’t really know yet. But as I mentioned in my article, before our evolution into the genus homo, it is widely accepted the diets of australopithecines and ardipithecus were very centered around plants. It would be odd to suddenly deviate from this in just a few million years.
There is also evidence for plant eating in tartar from teeth, as well as residues on artifacts. I also want to note a fairly new article just published from my alma mater, Kent State University, about how oversampling sites may have led to the conclusion that ‘meat made us human.’ The one article cannot prove we only ate meat. I could probably write a whole new article on this, but I will leave it at that for now to address your other points in the previous response.
Most reputable bodies of Nutrition Science wholly recommend fiber as part of the human (homo sapiens) diet. To say this without evidence is irresponsible.
Yes, we can of course use other types of bacteria in our gut. Like I said earlier though, if you’re actually into science and human evolution, you would feel weird at the sudden shift from a plant-based diet to a meat based diet. There is no evidence currently (according to the fossil record or comparisons to other similar species) that australopithecus or ardipithecus ate a meat centered diet. Might they have eaten meat? Sure, probably. Just like we might have eaten meat (and still do). Again, so much we could delve into on this topic.
Also good to note here for other people reading, the relationship between gut-bacteria and the immune system. There is so much new research being done with how diet affects your gut bacteria, which in turn affects your microbiome, which then in turn affects your immune system and risk for chronic diseases.
Again, most reputable bodies of nutrition science would tell you carbohydrates are pretty much essential. Yes, we can survive without them, but we have to remember that ketosis is for survival. We use ketosis in times of famine or fasting. It’s good to have it so we don’t die, but it’s not good to constantly be in ketosis. It’s irresponsible to recommend this diet to people who don’t know they have blood sugar problems because of the risk of kidney issues, liver issues, or like mentioned previously, diabetic ketoacidosis.
It’s also important to note that ketosis eventually induces atrophy of the muscles, basically eating away them. This is because the process to create and repair muscles requires glucose. Protein and fat break down into glucose by the way, if you consume too much. So I am still confused as to what kind of diet you follow. Are you in ketosis? Or do you follow a low-carb diet?
In response to you suggesting I anthropomorphize cells in our body, I am not sure where you get the idea that we don’t need glucose for the brain. Please let the world know where you get that idea from because if protein AND fat can eventually give us glucose, and you follow a high-meat/high protein diet your argument is invalid.
If you believe glucose is toxic, you might want to reconsider your diet. Although if you follow a strictly zero intake of carbohydrates, this would technically work for weight loss and insulin resistance.
Here are my references:
No sustained increase in zooarchaeological evidence for carnivory after the appearance of Homo erectus
W. Andrew Barr, Briana Pobiner, John Rowan, Andrew Du, J. Tyler Faith
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Feb 2022, 119 (5) e2115540119;
Christina Warinner, Noreen Tuross,
Alkaline cooking and stable isotope tissue-diet spacing in swine: archaeological implications,
Journal of Archaeological Science,
Volume 36, Issue 8,
2009,
Pages 1690-1697,
Karen Hardy, Hervé Bocherens, Jennie Brand Miller, Les Copeland,
Reconstructing Neanderthal diet: The case for carbohydrates,
Journal of Human Evolution,
Volume 162,
2022,
103105,
Domingo C. Salazar-García, Robert C. Power, Natalia Rudaya, Ksenya Kolobova, Sergey Markin, Andrey Krivoshapkin, Amanda G. Henry, Michael P. Richards, Bence Viola,
Dietary evidence from Central Asian Neanderthals: A combined isotope and plant microremains approach at Chagyrskaya Cave (Altai, Russia),
Journal of Human Evolution,
Volume 156,
2021,
102985,
Nakao, R., Abe, T., Yamamoto, S. et al. Ketogenic diet induces skeletal muscle atrophy via reducing muscle protein synthesis and possibly activating proteolysis in mice. Sci Rep 9, 19652 (2019).
Beisswenger BG, Delucia EM, Lapoint N, Sanford RJ, Beisswenger PJ. Ketosis leads to increased methylglyoxal production on the Atkins diet. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Jun;1043:201-10.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21945-diabetic-ketoacidosis-dka
