%0 Journal Article
%A Pontzer, Herman
%A Wood, Brian M.
%+ Department of Human Behavior Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
%T Effects of evolution, ecology, and economy on human diet: Insights from hunter-gatherers and other small-scale societies : 
%G eng
%U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0009-7126-D
%R 10.1146/annurev-nutr-111120-105520
%7 2021-06-17
%D 2021
%* Review method: peer-reviewed
%X We review the evolutionary origins of the human diet and the effects of ecology economy on the dietary proportion of plants and animals. Humans eat more meat than other apes, a consequence of hunting and gathering, which arose ?2.5 Mya with the genus Homo. Paleolithic diets likely included a balance of plant and animal foods and would have been remarkably variable across time and space. A plant/animal food balance of 50/50% prevails among contemporary warm-climate hunter-gatherers, but these proportions vary widely. Societies in cold climates, and those that depend more on fishing or pastoralism, tend to eat more meat. Warm-climate foragers, and groups that engage in some farming, tend to eat more plants. We present a case study of the wild food diet of the Hadza, a community of hunter-gatherers in northern Tanzania, whose diet is high in fiber, adequate in protein, and remarkably variable over monthly timescales.
%K Paleo diet, ancestral diet, nutrition, health
%J Annual Review of Nutrition
%V 41
%& 363
%P 363 - 385
%I Annual Reviews
%@ 0199-9885