The foods that made us human

Authors

  • Marta Palma-Morales Departamento de Fisiología, Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad de Granada, Spain
  • Ana Mateos Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Spain
  • Jesús Rodríguez Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Spain
  • Samantha J. Bernal-Gómez Instituto de Investigaciones en Comportamiento Alimentario y Nutrición (IICAN), Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico
  • Rafael Casuso Departamento de Fisiología, Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad de Granada, Spain
  • Jesús R. Huertas Departamento de Fisiología, Instituto de Nutrición y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad de Granada, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7446-0857

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32870/jbf.v1i1.7

Keywords:

human evolution, mutations, brain development, feeding, macronutrients

Abstract

Currently, numerous dietary strategies are used to prevent metabolic diseases and weight loss. Some of them do not have an appropriate physiological-nutritional basis and do not consider the genetic changes that have occurred recently, so they can be harmful to human health. This review aims to explain the genetic mutations that happened during human evolution from the first hominids to Homo sapiens and how they have influenced the way we eat; some mutations promoted brain development and other mutations are related to the digestion of nutrients such as lactose and starch. This review also explains the influence of the domestication of food and the practice of cooking on human nutrition. In addition, we have tried to justify the current recommendations about the caloric distribution of macronutrients based on the important influence of genetic changes and adaptations that have occurred in our species.

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Published

2021-07-01

How to Cite

Palma-Morales, M., Mateos, A., Rodríguez, J., Bernal-Gómez, S. J., Casuso, R., & R. Huertas, J. (2021). The foods that made us human. Journal of Behavior and Feeding, 1(1), 9–16. https://doi.org/10.32870/jbf.v1i1.7

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2021): Journal of Behavior and Feeding

Section

Review paper

License

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.