Nutrition 223 Chapter 1: Introduction
I. The Evolutionary Journey
1. 50,000 years there was the appearance of the modern man, the Homo Sapien. It was the age of
gathering and hunting. The hunters used to hunt animals, and the gatherers moved around to
collect food. A hunter-gatherer lives in a society where food is obtained by foraging (gathering
wild plants and chasing wild animals).
Hunter:
12, 000 years ago the Hobbit was 1 meter tall, and they lived on
Flores Island.
Before the agricultural revolution, the Hobbit had the hominid diet.
It consisted of berries, edible roots, wheat.
2. 10,000 years later, there was the first agricultural revolution.
3. Then, in the 18th century, there was the second agricultural revolution. Here we started to have
vegetables, potato introduction, and corn.
* In agricultural societies, people rely mostly on domesticated species.
4. In the 19th century there was the industrial and sanitary revolution
5. In the 20th century there was the technological revolution.
II. Dietary changes by civilization
Now, we have a lot of food which makes it easier for people to consume more.
, Primitive populations Modern society
1. Caloric excess vs expenditure
(how much calories we spend).
They increased.
2. Simple sugars: glucose, fructose,
table sugars, found in fruits, drinks…
these increased.
3. Complex sugars: are whole wheat
(like whole wheat bread). These
decreased.
4. Fats: they increased because of fast
food.
5. Sodium: it increased
6. Potassium: it decreased
7. Alcohol: it increased
III. Percentage of energy obtained from various food components
Hunters and gatherers Agricultural Modern
Fat
Simple sugars...
Complex sugars
Proteins
Salt (gram/day) 1 5- 15 10-20
Fiber (gram/day) 40 60-120 20
The 20 grams/day fiber is low. It could be
double.
,IV. Foraging to farming to food technology
There was the hunter-gatherer era, the agricultural era, then the industrial revolution.
With the industrial revolution, we had a lot more factories, a lot of food producing
factories, there was the introduction of food technology and more people working in
factories.
Before, people died from hunger. We had two categories of people: people who survived
and people who died. People who survived had thrifty metabolism: when you eat, you
store energy as fat. People who could store fat survived, and people who could not just
died. (Thrifty genes are genes which enable individuals to efficiently collect and process
food to deposit fat during periods of food abundance in order to provide for periods of
food shortage=feast and famine).
Before, it was a plus if you could store fat to survive. Nowadays, people who store a lot
of fat face many medical problems.
V. Evolution of Man
, People are becoming obese. 40% of calories are coming from fats
Then:
Then:
I. The Evolutionary Journey
1. 50,000 years there was the appearance of the modern man, the Homo Sapien. It was the age of
gathering and hunting. The hunters used to hunt animals, and the gatherers moved around to
collect food. A hunter-gatherer lives in a society where food is obtained by foraging (gathering
wild plants and chasing wild animals).
Hunter:
12, 000 years ago the Hobbit was 1 meter tall, and they lived on
Flores Island.
Before the agricultural revolution, the Hobbit had the hominid diet.
It consisted of berries, edible roots, wheat.
2. 10,000 years later, there was the first agricultural revolution.
3. Then, in the 18th century, there was the second agricultural revolution. Here we started to have
vegetables, potato introduction, and corn.
* In agricultural societies, people rely mostly on domesticated species.
4. In the 19th century there was the industrial and sanitary revolution
5. In the 20th century there was the technological revolution.
II. Dietary changes by civilization
Now, we have a lot of food which makes it easier for people to consume more.
, Primitive populations Modern society
1. Caloric excess vs expenditure
(how much calories we spend).
They increased.
2. Simple sugars: glucose, fructose,
table sugars, found in fruits, drinks…
these increased.
3. Complex sugars: are whole wheat
(like whole wheat bread). These
decreased.
4. Fats: they increased because of fast
food.
5. Sodium: it increased
6. Potassium: it decreased
7. Alcohol: it increased
III. Percentage of energy obtained from various food components
Hunters and gatherers Agricultural Modern
Fat
Simple sugars...
Complex sugars
Proteins
Salt (gram/day) 1 5- 15 10-20
Fiber (gram/day) 40 60-120 20
The 20 grams/day fiber is low. It could be
double.
,IV. Foraging to farming to food technology
There was the hunter-gatherer era, the agricultural era, then the industrial revolution.
With the industrial revolution, we had a lot more factories, a lot of food producing
factories, there was the introduction of food technology and more people working in
factories.
Before, people died from hunger. We had two categories of people: people who survived
and people who died. People who survived had thrifty metabolism: when you eat, you
store energy as fat. People who could store fat survived, and people who could not just
died. (Thrifty genes are genes which enable individuals to efficiently collect and process
food to deposit fat during periods of food abundance in order to provide for periods of
food shortage=feast and famine).
Before, it was a plus if you could store fat to survive. Nowadays, people who store a lot
of fat face many medical problems.
V. Evolution of Man
, People are becoming obese. 40% of calories are coming from fats
Then:
Then:
